A Rose's Determination
by thetrueninjagofan12
Summary: Ruby falls in the underground, yada yada... I don't own either franchise. There is a slight amount of swearing so I'll make it a T rating. By the way, I got Ruby's age wrong. I put her as fifteen instead of sixteen. it was an honest mistake.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I'm doing a thing! I've read a couple cute RWBY Undertale stories and thought I would do a thing too. It is definitely probably going to be similar to some stories, but it isn't intentional. This is a crossover that isn't exactly easy to work with. Any who... let's do it.**

 **I don't own either. Respective franchises and characters belong to Toby Fox and Rooster Teeth/Monty Oum. BTW, Ruby and Jaune are dating in this. I ship Lancaster :P (I think that's their ship. I call it Raspberry Lemonade though I have heard differently)**

Chapter one: The Ruins part I

Ruby and Yang were walking up the mountain side. They were sent on a Grimm clearing excavation up on Mount Ebott. Things were going well, but Ruby felt like there was something... off. _Something_ was attracting the Grimm to this specific area of the mountain. She and Yang kept walking, weapons in hand (Though for Yang, that was inevitable). Yang noticed a giant hole near them and stopped. Ruby however, wasn't quite that fortunate, and fell into the hole.

"RUBY!" Yang cried out in alarm. She tried, and failed, to catch her sister before she plummeted to her presumable death.

"Uh... what the heck?" Ruby muttered, regaining consciousness. She tried to remember what happened. 'Let's see...' she thought to herself. 'I was on a mission with Yang when I fell down here... but where exactly _is_ here?' Then it hit her. "Yang!" She gasped, her silver eyes widened with shock before quickly sitting up. She winced in pain. That was when she felt something wet trickling down her face. She placed a hand to it and checked, and discovered that it was indeed blood. Assuming that she must have hit her head in the fall, she wiped it off her hand and looked around, leaning heavily on Crescent Rose. Amazingly it survived the fall. Amazingly _she_ survived the fall. She appeared to be in a cave. What she landed in was a bed of flowers. Ruby assumed this was what kept her from being killed. She got to her feet and looked up. There was a bright light coming from the hole she fell down, the sun. She could hear her sister calling for her. She called back saying that she was okay, and was going to find another way out. Yang hesitantly agreed, stating that she was getting help. Ruby started walking until she came up to a giant purple door with a weird symbol on it.

"Strange... that symbol looks familiar..." Ruby muttered to herself, taking a picture of it with her scroll. "I'll research it if- WHEN I get back."

With a grunt, she opened the door. It was heavy and cold, probably made of stone. Ruby took all her effort to close it again, panting and trying to catch her breath.

"Howdy!"

Ruby's head shot up and pointed Crescent Rose. She looked around, trying to figure out where the voice came from, until her eyes settled on a little flower in the middle of the room. She sighed and re-placed the gun on its harness.

"Uh, hi?"

"I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

"Ruby."

"Yeah, that's nice kid." The strange plant muttered with a frown before reforming his sweet smile. "You're new to the underground, aren'tcha? Golly, you must be so confused!"

"Kinda, yeah..." Ruby admitted, chuckling nervously. The little plant, Flowey was it? Rolled his eyes at her again.

"You talk a lot... Anyways! Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do! Ready? Here we go!" Ruby stared in shock as her heart appeared floating in front of her chest, glowing a bright red. Everything else, including her and Flowey, was in black and white. "See that little heart floating around? That's your SOUL! The very culmination of your being! It starts out weak, but grows stronger as you collect LV!"

"Collect what?"

"You mean you don't know what LV is? Why, LOVE of course! You want some LOVE don't you?"

Ruby wasn't stupid. She knew a trick when she saw one. At first she was gonna say no, but she thought she'd piss off a plant that day.

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Down here, LOVE is spread through little white... friendliness pellets! Move around, catch as many as you can!" He smiled happily as tiny seeds formed above his head, then fired at Ruby, who simply moved out of the way. This seemed to have both confused and angered the plant, considering the face he's making.

"Buddy, you missed them... let's try this again shall we?"

He tried again. Ruby did the exact same thing as before. Though he got even angrier.

"Is this a joke? Are you brain dead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS! Friendliness pellets!" He corrected himself quickly, but Ruby heard him. His third attempt, she dodged again, more gracefully than the other two times. Suddenly Flowey's face got super creepy, contorting into a weird smile. With a lower than before scratchy voice, he spoke.

 _"_ _You know what's going on here, don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer!"_

Ruby began to panic. She told him she had no idea what was going on, but he wouldn't listen. She watched in horror as she was surrounded by pellets. She tried using her semblance to get through them, but only got hurt. She listened as Flowey muttered his last sentence to her.

 _"_ _DIE!"_ Then the demonic laughter began. It echoed through Ruby's skull until she couldn't take it anymore, but suddenly, it stopped.

"What..?" Ruby asked out of sheer confusion and fear.

She saw a fireball form near Flowey and strike the plant, sending him flying. She reached for Crescent Rose, almost expecting to see Cinder, killing the plant so that she could kill Ruby herself. It wasn't Cinder. In fact, it appeared to be more like a kindly old woman... goat... monster... Okay, Ruby had no idea what she was.

"What a terrible creature. Torturing such a poor, innocent youth..."

Ruby stared at the kindly goat lady in speculation. She was grateful that this woman saved her life, but on the other hand, that flower acted nice before trying to kill her. The goat offered a hand to help Ruby to her feet. With slight hesitation, she accepted.

"Th-thank you." She replied somewhat shyly. Ruby isn't shy; she just isn't quick to trust this woman.

"You poor dear, you're hurt! Here, let me help you." the woman stated calmly, placing a hand on Ruby's head. She felt the pain from her head injury, and the pain from where the pellets hit her, disappear. She smiled at the woman.

"Do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, the caretaker of these ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs." She greeted, making a gesture for Ruby to follow her before coming to an abrupt stop. "Oh where are my manners, I almost forgot to ask you your name."

"I-I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose."

"My, Ruby? That's such a beautiful name."

"Thank you Ma'am."

"Please, just Toriel."

She turned and started walking towards a door.

"This way Ruby."

Ruby started feeling more trusting towards Toriel, but still felt weary. She stayed with her, but had Crescent Rose nearby in case something happened. They came across a room with two sets of stairs in it. In the middle of the room, Ruby noticed a small light. She felt drawn to it for some reason and walked to it. Reaching out, she heard a little voice in her head.

 _"_ _The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with DETERMINATION."_

Ruby felt a smile creep on her face. She felt determined all right. Suddenly the voice was heard again.

 _"_ _Kill them all."_

This scared Ruby. She didn't want to hurt anybody if she didn't need to. She was a huntress, a protector of those who cannot defend themselves, not a killer. She ran after Toriel, who was waiting patiently at the top of the stairs. Then they walked to the next room.

"Welcome to your new home, innocent one."

"Actually, I was just trying to find another way out... I have a sister, a dad, friends, and whatever Weiss is..."

Toriel grew silent for a moment, trying to ignore Ruby's statement.

"Allow me to educate you in the operation of the ruins." She continued, more irritated than before. "The ruins are filled with puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and door keys. One must solve them to move forward. Please, adjust yourself to the sight of them."

Ruby watched carefully as Toriel pressed the switches on the floor, thinking they'll come in handy.

 _"_ _Don't bother. This puzzle will never be seen again."_ The voice spoke. Ruby was _determined_ to figure out who this person was and what they wanted. Toriel lead her to another room.

"To progress through this room, you must trigger several switches. Don't worry; I labeled the ones you need to flip."

"Um, thank you Toriel..." Ruby noticed that Toriel was acting _way_ too motherly towards her. Was she intending to keep Ruby? She'll just need to be careful. She walked over to the first labelled switch and pulled it. Toriel, who was standing and waiting, walked over to the next one with a smile. Ruby noticed two switches there and got confused. She pulled the switch on the right.

"No no, not that one my child. The one on the left. I even labelled it for you, see?"

Ruby nodded and pulled the other switch. Her face was a bit red in embarrassment. Toriel, however, didn't mind the screw up, and acted like it never happened.

"Splendid! I am proud of you Ruby!"

Ruby felt a pain in her heart at that statement. That sounded like what her mother would say to her. It's been so long, and the closest thing to a mother she had at the moment was some goat lady in a cave she just met. Sounds crazy when you say it out loud, right?

"Now, let us move on to the next room."

"Toriel?" Ruby asked, a mixture between sad and impatient.

"Yes my child, what is it?"

"How much longer?"

"Until we reach our home, about twenty minutes."

"I mean until _I_ can go home."

"I just answered you."

"Toriel?"

The goat said nothing further on the subject. She simply kept walking. The next room contained a training dummy, and nothing else.

"As a human living in the underground, monsters may attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation." Ruby jumped. Monsters will attack her? All she's seen are Toriel and the flower, who knows what other monsters could be down here, or how strong they could be? Ruby, needless to say, was terrified. Toriel noticed and continued. "However, worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT. While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation."

"Wait what?" Ruby asked in confusion. This was a strange turn of events.

"Stall for time and I will come resolve the conflict. Practice on this dummy." She then proceeded to walk over to the door and block it, meaning that Ruby was not able to continue otherwise.

"Ugh, fine." She sighed, irritated. "Uh, hey dummy." She began, until suddenly her heart appeared in front of her again, just like before. Except this time there were different options at her disposal. She could: FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, or MERCY. She chose ACT. It gave her two options: talk, or check. She talked to it. "N-nice day, huh?" Toriel smiled and the encounter ended.

"Ah, very good! You are very good!" she praised, rubbing the top of Ruby's head. Ruby smiled as she flattened her hair back down. "On to the next room."

"The puzzle is in this room. I wonder if you can solve it?" Toriel muttered, walking to the next room. Ruby followed her, and was suddenly thrown into combat. In fear, she pulled out Crescent Rose and almost sniped the froggit in the head. Toriel looked saddened and scared at Ruby pulling a weapon. The voice in her head yelled _"DO IT!"_ but she was ignoring it. She placed the gun/scythe back on her harness on her back, and pressed act. There were different options than before. She was able to compliment or threaten the froggit. She decided to compliment it.

"Uh... nice... eyes?" She said the first thing she could think of. The froggit looked confused, but also looked flattered. Toriel walked forward and glared at the froggit. It shuffled away in fear. Ruby sighed and smiled.

"Thanks Toriel. That was getting awkward."

"You're welcome Ruby. Remember, I will be here with you to resolve any conflict you come across, as long as it is in the ruins."

"What do you mean?"

 _"_ _What do you think genius? As soon as you head past the ruins she'll leave you and stay behind. You'll probably never see her again."_ The voice in her head scolded.

"Who are you?!" Ruby yelled at it, but out loud by accident.

"My child, who are you talking to?"

Ruby realized her mistake.

"Uh, nobody. Let's keep moving." She replied calmly.

 _"_ _Who are you calling nothing? I'm literally right here."_

Toriel was just standing there, in front of what looked like a floor of spikes. She appeared to be thinking about something.

"Hmm... this is the puzzle, but..." then she turned to Ruby. "Here, take my hand for a moment."

Ruby took the kindly goat's hand and followed her steps carefully as she guided her through the puzzle. As they walked across, she noticed that Toriel looked saddened, but didn't pay any mind to it. Reaching the end, Toriel smiled.

"Puzzles seem a bit too dangerous for now. You have done excellently thus far my dear Ruby. However, I have a difficult request to ask of you. I am going to go through the next room alone, and you will follow when you receive the signal. It will be a feint _beep_ , so listen closely for it. Forgive me for this." Then she walked away. Ruby listened closely, and then she heard it. Using her semblance, she zoomed to the other end of the room. Toriel walked out from behind a pillar.

"Greetings, Ruby. Do not worry, I didn't leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me."

 _"_ _How cliché."_ The voice muttered. For once, Ruby agreed with it.

"Toriel, what was this all about?"

"I was testing your independence. I must attend to some business and will be gone for a while. Stay here, it's too dangerous to explore alone. Here's a phone. If you need anything, please call." Then she left. Ruby was holding the cell phone, trying to figure out what it did.

"Is this the underground version of a scroll? Geez, they need better tech." She muttered, placing it in her pocket. Then, she proceeded to walk out of the room. "Toriel said it was dangerous to wander by myself, but I'm a danger magnet regardless of what happens. This is going too slow anyways." Suddenly her phone went off. She was looking all over it, trying to figure out how to receive a call. "Maybe this button..?" she pressed a little button with a green telephone on it. It was the right button. "Ah, there! Hello?"

"Hello, this is Toriel. You have not LEFT the room, have you?"

"No, why?"

"Because there are more puzzles I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try them by yourself."

"That's understandable. I don't know what may be down here, so traveling alone would be stupid."

"I'm glad you understand. Be good, alright?"

"Toriel, before you go, may I ask you a question?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"How do I hang up the phone?"

"The red telephone button."

"Thank you." then she hung up. Not taking her own advice, Ruby kept walking. She saw another one of those little lights and walked over to touch it.

 _"_ _Playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with DETERMINATION."_

"Ribbit ribbit! (Excuse me, human.)"

Ruby noticed a froggit trying to get her attention. She wearily walked over to it.

"Um, yes? May I help you froggit?"

"(I have some advice for you about battling monsters.)"

"That would be great! Thank you!" She smiled. A lot of these monsters are really nice. So getting through here alive shouldn't be too difficult.

"(If you ACT a certain way or FIGHT until you almost defeat them, they may not want to battle you anymore.)"

"Wow, thank you. That's very helpful. I'll keep that in mind."

"(If a monster doesn't want to battle you anymore, please, use some MERCY human.) Ribbit."

"Understood. Thank you."

"Ribbit. (You're welcome.) Ribbit."

Ruby used her semblance to travel at a faster pace. She was afraid it might take too long to travel at a walking speed, so she ran through the room. She noticed that there was a cracked floor and two vents. She assumed that you were to step on the cracked floor and fall, then climb up the vent, though didn't want to risk it. She used her semblance and gained enough momentum to jump over the cracked floor. Then she kept walking.

"That was almost too easy." She muttered. Walking into the next room, she got another call from Toriel. "Hello?"

"Hello Ruby. For no particular reason, which do you prefer, cinnamon or butterscotch?

"Um... Cinnamon, to be completely honest."

"Okay, and you do not _dislike_ butterscotch, right? I mean I know your preference, but..."

"No, I don't dislike butterscotch." Ruby replied, almost annoyed. She could only imagine what Weiss would say to Toriel in this situation. _'You dolt! What was the point in asking if you_ clearly _want to use both anyways?'_ Ruby will never admit it (maybe) but she missed Weiss.

"And you do not have allergies?"

"No."

"Alright, thank you. And thank you for being so patient by the way." Then Toriel hung up.

"Right, patient." Ruby muttered to herself. Then she checked her scroll signal in the underground. It was enough to call. She immediately put a video call through to Yang.

"Ruby! Are you okay? Are you still underground?" The blonde asked in a panic. Ruby noticed that Blake, Weiss and team JNR was there too.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm still trying to find my way through. You wouldn't believe what's down here."

"What?" Blake asked in curiosity.

"A whole society. Remember in history class Oobleck told us about the war between humans and monsters?"

"You mean you actually paid attention in class?" Weiss asked sarcastically. Ruby gave her a dirty look.

"Yes. This is the same mountain. These are those monsters. They're so friendly, minus the flower that tried to kill me."

"You were almost killed, by a plant?" Yang asked in disbelief. Her face was like 'really bitch?'

"Yes. Anyways, if I'm gonna make any more progress down here I'm gonna have to keep moving. May I ask a favour though?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything."

"I need you to research this symbol for me." She stated, sending the picture to her sister. "Also, I don't know how much longer my scroll is going to have a signal, so this may be the last time we talk before I leave the underground. I will see you guys later. Yang, Jaune, I love you."

"Love ya too, sis." Yang replied, a tear present in her eye. Jaune walked forward and took the scroll from her.

"I love you too Ruby. Stay strong, will you?"

"I will." Ruby smiled, hanging up.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: Ruins part II

Ruby pushed a rock onto a button and kept walking. The voice in her head was doubling as her guide and a companion. Walking in the underground alone for long would make her go crazy in due time regardless.

"So what's your name, anyways?" she asked it.

 _"_ _I'm Chara. I was the first human to fall underground."_

"So you're a ghost?"

 _"_ _That isn't important. Keep moving if you want to go home."_ They snapped at her. She nodded and kept going.

The next room was a big floor of breakable tiles. Ruby stared at it for a moment, trying to figure it out. With no clear path she took a step... and fell right through.

"Ouch... wait a second." She muttered, realizing a path that was leaf free. Assuming it was the answer, she got an idea. She extended Crescent Rose into its scythe mode and jumped up. She stabbed a hole in every tile around the path and climbed up the vent to test her theory. She walked the path she revealed and folded up Crescent Rose, moving on to the next room.

 _"_ _Be careful here. That third one doesn't like being pushed around."_

"Got it." She replied, pushing the first two and preparing for the third.

"WHOA THERE PARDNER! Who said you could push me around?"

"Sorry, it's just that I need to get through here. So if I may ask, could you please move over that way?"

"Hmm? So you're askin' me to move over?" it asked, clarifying Ruby's request.

"Yes please." Ruby begged, hoping that it'll help her case.

"Okay, just for you pumpkin." It replied, sliding to the left. The wrong direction.

"Um, Mr. Rock? That was the wrong way." Ruby muttered, pointing at the button in front of her.

"Hmm? That was the wrong direction? Alright, I think I got it." The rock stated, moving on the button. Ruby thanked him and walked towards the opening. Just before she stepped down, the spiked shot back up, startling the poor girl.

"Oh my Oum, that was close. What the hell just-"she cut herself off, turning her head. The rock had moved from the switch and was just beside it now. In anger, Ruby stormed over to it.

"Hmm? You wanted me to stay there? You're giving me a real workout." It muttered, sliding back in place. Ruby walked back towards the opening, and this time, ran across using her semblance to ensure that it wouldn't shoot up under her feet. The next room was a narrow hallway with a table and another one of those small lights. Ruby noticed that there was a small hole in the wall, and a wedge of cheese on the table. She walked over to the light and touched it.

 _"_ _Knowing that one day the mouse might one day leave its hole and get the cheese fills you with DETERMINATION."_

Ruby walked into the next room and noticed a ghost lying on the ground. She approached it.

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (are they gone yet?) Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."

Ruby noticed that the ghost kept saying 'Z' out loud. It was kind of annoying.

 _"_ _Move it with force. Don't worry; this ghost isn't going to get hurt. It's incorporeal, like me."_ Chara explained. Ruby nodded and walked over to it. Not knowing what else to do, she picked up a stick and hit him with it. They engaged in battle.

"Why are you so sad, Mr...? Uh..."

"Napstablook... that's my name. I'm always sad. My cousin disappeared years ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Napstablook started crying. Ruby noticed that the tears were his attack and used her semblance to dodge them. One hit her arm and it burned. She looked at her scroll and saw it took 10% off her aura. She recovered from it and gave him a patient smile, which cheered him up a bit. Ruby waited for the attack, only to realize he wasn't going to.

"What's wrong Napstablook?" she asked.

"I'm just not really feeling up to it, sorry." He muttered glumly. Ruby thought for a moment. What would her friends do in this situation? Yang would probably tell a joke...

"I got it!" Ruby shouted, getting a confused look from the saddened ghost. "Why do ghosts like using elevators?"

"Why?" Napstablook muttered.

"They really raise their spirits."

"Heh heh..." Napstablook laughed awkwardly, crying again. These were only a few, so Ruby didn't even need to use her semblance. Ruby smiled at him again, which made Napstablook smile back, but only a little.

"Here, let me try..." He muttered, crying upwards to make a hat out of his tears. "I call it dapper blook. Do you like it?"

"Of course I do." Ruby praised. Napstablook looked bashful.

"Oh gee..."

The battle ended. Napstablook felt more open to talk to Ruby though, so he did.

"I usually come to the ruins because there's nobody around... but today, I met someone nice..." he hesitated to keep talking. Ruby thought he might have had second guesses on her. "Oh, I'm rambling again. I'll get out of your way." Then he vanished.

"That happened." Ruby muttered, trying to process what just happened.

 _"_ _You're telling me."_ Chara agreed. _"_ _Are you okay? That must have hurt."_

"Oh, no worries, I've dealt with worse. Have you ever fought a pack of Beowolves head on?"

 _"_ _No, I can't say I have. There aren't any Grimm down here, and I haven't been on the surface in almost a hundred years. The war happened over a century ago, I fell a few years after. I never made it out of here alive, nor had the other humans who fell. But I have a feeling things will be different with you."_

"Thanks for the confidence boost, I think." Ruby muttered, moving on to the next room. It was a dead end with spider webs and a sign.

 _'_ _Spider bake sale. All proceeds go to real spiders.'_ The sign read.

 _"_ _I would buy something here. But don't eat it. It'll come in handy later."_

"Um, okay." Ruby replied, walking to the webs. She placed 18g in the larger web and got a jug. "What is this stuff?" she asked, swirling the jug and listening to the liquid swish around inside.

 _"_ _Spider cider. Don't worry, it isn't made of spiders. It's just apple cider sold by spiders."_

"Okay." Ruby replied, placing it in her pocket. She was actually surprised it fit. She walked out of the room and took the path to the right of her position. It seemed to be the right way. There were froggits there, but only one of them had important information.

"Ribbit ribbit. (I have heard you are quite merciful for a human.)"

"Well, I never had any reason to hurt you so..." Ruby muttered in response. The froggit nodded.

"(Surely you know how to tell when a monster can be spared by now, right?)"

"Yep sure do." She reassured. Again, the froggit nodded.

"(So my friend in the other room gave you helpful information?)"

"Yep. Sure did." Ruby again agreed with the froggit, who, again, nodded.

"(Remember, sparing is just saying you won't fight. Maybe one day, you will have to do it, even if the monster will not accept your mercy.)"

"I'll keep that in mind." Ruby reassured, moving on to the next room. She got another call from Toriel.

"I just realized that it has been a while since I cleaned up."

"Okay..?" Ruby questioned the significance of the statement.

"I was not expecting company so soon. There are probably a lot of things lying about here and there. Feel free to pick up whatever you'd like. But do not carry around too much, or you won't have any room for something you'd really like or need. Bye bye now." She hung up. Ruby sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

 _"_ _That woman's gonna be the death of us, I swear..."_ Chara sighed. Ruby nodded.

"Oh hello!" Ruby called out in surprise at the next puzzle. It was six cracked floors, three vents. The sign read that one of them contains a switch to move on.

 _"_ _The middle on the left contains the lever, but the closest one on the right contains armour."_ Chara instructed. _"_ _You can do both, but I wouldn't if you don't want to keep falling."_ Ruby nodded and ran for the middle one... on the right.

"Ouch... oh, hi Blooky." Ruby greeted the ghost, who just happened to be in the hole she fell into.

"Ooooooohhh..." The ghost sighed, vanishing. Ruby again tried to process what just happened. It was like Penny all over again, only worse. This guy wasn't a talker. Ruby climbed up the vent and walked to the one across from it. She fell down with a thump.

"Ouch... Toriel really needs to think of a safer way to do these puzzles." She grumbled, rubbing her sore butt. Chara giggled. "Yeah, yeah. Really funny. You wouldn't be laughing if it were you would you?"

 _"_ _Sorry, Ruby. It's just funny watching an elite huntress in training complaining about her sore keister."_

"Oh hah hah." Ruby retorted sarcastically, pulling the switch. She just realized that she was sounding a lot like Weiss. "Oum damn it." She grumbled.

 _"_ _What's the matter?"_

"I'm starting to sound like my school partner. She's kind of bossy."

 _"_ _Understandable."_

"Yeah. Come on, best get moving." Ruby enthused. They walked through the door to another room.

"This is interesting." Ruby praised with a whistle. Chara agreed.

 _"_ _This is my favorite one. When I was alive, Asriel and I would have a competition to see who could solve it the fastest. Of course, he won. Monsters are naturally good at creating and solving puzzles."_ Chara got lost in their memories, almost forgetting about the teenager they currently accompanied.

"Chara? Who's Asriel?" She asked, snapping the ghost out of their thoughts.

 _"_ _W-what? N-nobody! I mean- that's not important. Come on, I know this puzzle like the back of my hand. We'll be past it in no time."_

"We're out." Ruby sighed, stretching.

 _"_ _I'll admit I was not expecting so many monsters to show up. You handled that well Ruby."_ Chara praised. _"_ _We're almost there. Just up that path."_

Ruby walked over to a path on the left hand side. It was covered in leaves. Just as she reached a dead looking tree, Toriel walked out.

"That took longer than expected." She sighed, pulling out her phone. Ruby's phone went off, alerting the goat that she was there. "Ruby? How did you get here? Are you hurt?" She asked, scanning the young teenager for any injuries.

"Honestly, the falling puzzles hurt my butt. And a whole bunch of monsters ganged up on me at once. It was kind of scary, but I only left with small cuts and bruises. Nothing I couldn't handle of course." She explained triumphantly. Toriel sighed.

"This is my fault for leaving you for so long... at least let me heal you." she healed every cut and bruise that Ruby received. "I was so irresponsible, trying to surprise you like this, in such an unfamiliar environment..." she realized what she just said. "Err... well, no point trying to hide it anymore. Come small one."

"I'm not that small. I'm fifteen so..."

"Of course you're not Ruby." Toriel giggled. Ruby didn't know why, but she felt kind of insulted. She walked over to the building in front of her and touched the light in front of it.

 _"_ _Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the ruins fills you with DETERMINATION."_ Chara narrated.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

 _"_ _Don't know. By the way, you're fifteen? But you said you attend Beacon. You need to be at least seventeen for that do you not?"_

"Attended." Ruby corrected. "It was destroyed. As for how I got into the school, that's a long story. I'll save it for when we're alone and I don't seem crazy."

Ruby walked into the little cottage and gasped. It was so cute. And she smelled something sweet in the air. It smelled like cinnamon... and butterscotch. She giggled.

 _"_ _There she is again with her butterscotch-cinnamon pie."_ Chara sighed. Ruby couldn't see them, but could tell they were smiling.

"Do you smell that?"

"Sure do. It smells amazing." Ruby drooled. Toriel let out a small giggle.

"Surprise! I made butterscotch-cinnamon pie for us. I thought we might celebrate your arrival."

"If my sister were here, she'd celebrate with alcohol and dancing." Ruby meant that to be a joke, but only realized then and there how much she missed Yang. She missed everyone. Yang, Blake, Weiss, Nora, Ren, _Jaune. S_ he missed them all. That just made her more determined to get home.

"I want you to have a nice time living here-"

"I'm sorry Toriel, but I-" Ruby started, before being interrupted.

"So I will hold off on snail pie for tonight." She finished; more firm than gentle. Ruby sighed. Leaving the underground just might break this woman's heart.

 _"_ _Don't think much of it Ruby. You need to go home. It hurts at first, but you'll get past it."_ Chara reassured, thought it didn't make Ruby feel better.

"Come now Ruby, I have another surprise for you." Toriel smiled, leading Ruby to a door. "This is it." She smiled, rubbing Ruby's head. Subconsciously, the reaper was about to flatten it, only to realize that not a single hair was out of place. "I remembered you don't like your hair messed with, no worries." The kindly old goat reassured. Ruby smiled

"What is this room Toriel?"

"It's a room of your own! I hope you like it." She paused, sniffing the air. "Is something burning? Uh, make yourself at home." She ran off. Ruby stopped and smelled the air as well.

"I don't smell anything." She sighed, opening the door. Looking inside, she noticed kid's clothes and toys and shoes. She flopped down on the bed and dozed off. She hadn't realized how tired she really was before then. She was asleep for a little while before waking up again. Checking her scroll she realized it's been about 7 hours.

 _"_ _About time you woke up."_ Chara scolded. _"_ _Though it's a good thing you did. Fighting Toriel won't be easy, especially when you're so tired."_

"I have to fight her?" Ruby gasped. Chara stayed silent. Ruby sighed and picked up the plate with the pie on it off the floor and put it in her pocket along with the cider from before. Ruby was shocked. Girl pockets suck, but these pockets are practically bottomless. She didn't feel the items in there at all until she placed her hand inside. It was like magic. She sighed deeply as she walked over to where Toriel sat in the living room.

"Toriel?" She asked in a small voice.

"Up already, I see. Um, I want you to know how glad I am to have someone here. There are so many old books I'd like to share. I want to show you my favorite bug-hunting spot. I've also prepared a curriculum for your education. This may come as a surprise to you, but I've always wanted to become a teacher. Actually, that probably isn't so surprising. Still, I am glad to have you living here." She rambled. Ruby thought she reminded her of Nora.

"Actually, that's why I'm here Toriel. I was wondering... when can I head home?" Ruby stated, sadly watching the smile falter on her mother figure's face.

"What? This... this _is_ your home now. Um... would you like to know about this book I am reading? It is called "72 uses for snails". How about it?"

"I'm sorry, but I really need to leave the underground. I have a father, a sister, a boyfriend, all on the surface. I can't stay here."

"Um... how about an exciting snail fact? Did you know that snails... sometimes flip their digestive systems as they mature? Interesting."

"Toriel..." Ruby tried her best to end the woman's stalling. Suddenly Toriel's face got stone cold and here red eyes went dull. She closed the book and stood up.

"I have to do something. Stay here." She ran off. Ruby could faintly hear the sound of her paws going down stairs. Chara sighed.

 _"_ _This is gonna be difficult. No worries, I'll help you through it."_

Ruby nodded and ran downstairs. There was Toriel, standing 100% motionless, as if waiting for Ruby to follow her.

"You wish to return "Home", do you not?" She asked darkly.

"Yes. I do." Ruby replied both firm and timidly. Chara sighed at how not intimidating the silver eyed reaper was.

"At the end of this hallway lies the end of the ruins. A one-way exit to the rest of the underground. I'm going to destroy it."

"What?!" Ruby cried in shock. She wouldn't. She couldn't. That's so selfish.

"No one will ever be able to leave again. Now go upstairs like a good little girl, will you?"

"Toriel stop! This is crazy!"

"Every human that falls down here meets the same fate." Toriel began. Ruby looked saddened. What had she gone through? "I have seen it again, and again. They come. They leave. They die. You naive child, if you leave the ruins, they... Asgore... will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand?" Ruby could only nod. "Go to your room." Ruby stood her ground. Chara was saying that she made all the right calls so far, which was good. "Do not try to stop me Ruby. This is your final warning. Go upstairs, I will be there soon." Ruby didn't walk away. She followed her to the door. Toriel was not happy.

"Toriel, just let me head home." Ruby tried yet again to plea for freedom.

"You want to leave so badly?" the woman asked, her voice so deadpan and dark that it would probably make a Grimm run in fear. Ruby gulped, preparing for what was to come next. "Humph. You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this..." Ruby felt her soul prepare for battle. She was just hoping that she didn't need to hurt Toriel. "Prove yourself..." she whispered.

"Huh?" Ruby asked, unable to hear what Toriel said because she was so quiet now.

"Prove to me you are strong enough to survive!" Toriel yelled; the battle beginning.

"I don't want to fight you Toriel! Please listen to me!" Ruby cried. Toriel seemed to be staring through her.

"Fight me or run away."She stated flatly. Ruby felt a chill. A miniature vortex of flames shot at her, some striking her. It burned, but Ruby ignored it.

"Toriel please! I don't want it to end like this." Ruby pleaded. Toriel still seemed emotionless.

"What are you proving this way?" she asked. Ruby did not have the answer. Toriel shot more fire at her. It burned, and she couldn't hold back her despair this time. Ruby cried out in pain, causing Toriel to start acting aloof. "Fight me or leave!"

Ruby couldn't handle anymore of this. Toriel shot more fire at her, but every single one missed. Ruby even reached to touch it, and it moved away from her. "Toriel?"

"Stop it." Was all she said, before attacking once more. Again, all the attacks missed. "Stop looking at me that way..." Ruby looked at her sadly. Again, Toriel attacked, and nothing happened. "Go away!"

"Toriel, I'm sorry for what happened to you, I really am. But this can't continue on like this." Ruby tried to sympathize, but to no avail. Toriel said nothing. "Toriel?" Still nothing. "Toriel, please say something."

"I know you want to go home, but..." she began. "But please, head upstairs now. I promise I will take good care of you." she smiled sadly. Ruby felt bad.

"You know I can't do that Toriel."

"I know we don't have much... but-"

"I'm sorry Toriel. I need to head home." Ruby stated, her smile faltering.

"We can have a good life here. Why are you making this so difficult?"

"Toriel..." Ruby sighed. She knew it was a simple guilt trip, but it was working.

"Please go upstairs." She frowned. Ruby did too. Toriel's face suddenly grew a sad smile, and pained laughter escaped her throat. "Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child." Then her smile left her face.

"Toriel, I promise that if you let me go, I will survive, and go home safe and sound."

 _"_ _Idiot! Don't make a promise you might not be able to keep!"_ Chara snapped at her. She shushed them.

"No, I understand." Toriel broke. Ruby let out a sad smile as red eyes met silver. "You would just be unhappy trapped down here. The ruins are quite small once you get used to them. It wouldn't be right for you to grow up in a place like this. My expectations... my loneliness... my _fear_... for you, dear Ruby, I will put them aside." Ruby felt a tear roll down her cheek, then another, then another. She did not intend to cry, but it couldn't be helped. "If you truly wish to leave the ruins, I will not stop you. However, when you leave, please do not come back. I hope you understand." Ruby jumped into her arms and hugged her. Toriel was taken by surprise, and hugged her back. "I will always love you like a daughter Ruby."

"I love you too mom." She whispered, catching the monster by surprise. Toriel felt tears roll down her cheeks and get absorbed by her fur. She let go of Ruby and left without another word.

Ruby walked down a long hallway for what seemed like ten to fifteen minutes before a familiar voice drew her attention.

"Clever. Verrrryyy clever." Flowey's voice echoed through the small room they were in. Ruby scoffed.

"What do _you_ want?" she asked, keeping her hand close to Crescent Rose if need be.

"You think you're _so smart_ , don't you?"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Ruby asked in confusion and impatience.

"In this world it's kill or be killed, but you did neither. You were able to play by your own rules." Then his voice got demonic again. _"You spared the life of a single person. Hee hee hee..."_ his voice returned to normal. "I bet you feel _really_ great. You didn't kill anybody this time. But what will you do if you were to meet a relentless killer?"

"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt." Ruby replied, sounding bored.

"W-what? Ugh! Never mind! Let me finish my speech!"

"Go ahead. I'm in no hurry." She was using a page out of Blake's book. It seemed to be working.

"Right. Where was I? Oh yeah! What will you do if you were to meet a relentless killer? You'll die and you'll die and you'll die, until you're tired of trying. What will you do then? **_Will you kill out_** _ **of frustration? Or will you give up entirely,**_ _and let ME inherit the power to control it?_ _ **I am the PRINCE of this world's future!**_ _No worries, my little monarch. My plan isn't regicide. This is so much more interesting."_ Then he started laughing maniacally before disappearing into the ground.

"Chara, I don't think this is just about heading home anymore."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three: Snowdin part I- Snowdin Puzzles

Ruby opened the door and felt piercing cold wind hit her face. She gasped and shielded her face from the snow. She pulled up her cloak and started walking.

"Note to self. The next time I unintentionally fall into an underground prison for monsters, I'm gonna bring warmer clothes." She muttered to herself. Chara giggled.

 _"_ _Don't do that. You'll be practically boiled alive in Hotland that way."_

"Hotland?"

 _"_ _Two areas over. Trust me, you'll know when you see it."_

"Alrighty."

She took a few steps before almost tripping over a really big stick. Recovering, she kept moving until she heard a snap.

"EEEK! What was that?" She asked, whipping her head around. She noticed that the stick was broken. Panicking, she picked up the pace. She heard footsteps behind her and turned around. There was nobody there. "What the heck is happening?" she kept walking and heard more footsteps. She whipped around quickly to spot a figure quickly ducking behind a tree.

 _"_ _Did you see that?"_ Chara asked her. Ruby nodded. _"_ _Stay on your guard."_

Ruby walked a little further before reaching a bridge. She heard the footsteps and froze. They were right behind her. She had her hand next to Crescent Rose, not sure what to expect.

 **"** **N."** A deep and dark voice spoke. Ruby jumped and swung a fully extended Crescent Rose, narrowly missing a startled, short skeleton. "Hey watch it!" he replied. His voice wasn't as deep as before. It was actually really quiet, despite him shouting.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry. You scared me." Ruby apologized; refolding Crescent Rose and placing it back on her harness.

" _Snow_ problem, heh heh. It's all _cool_." The young skeleton joked. Ruby face palmed.

"You're worse than my older sister." She sighed. The skeleton smiled triumphantly.

"I'll take that as a compliment." he stated, extending his bony hand. "The name's Sans, Sans the skeleton."

"Ruby Rose." Ruby greeted, taking the skeleton's hand. A loud fart noise erupted, causing the pair to start laughing.

"The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick." Sans huffed, winded from laughing so hard.

"It's always funny." Ruby agreed.

"Anyways..." Sans started, scratching the back of his skull. "I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now."

"Y-you are?" Ruby asked in fear, remembering what Toriel said before.

"Relax kid. The thing is, I don't actually care about capturing anybody."

"Phew... thank Oum..." Ruby sighed in relief.

"Thank... who?" Sans asked in confusion.

"Pretty much god." Ruby replied. The skeleton nodded in understanding.

"Down here we say Thank Asgore. He's our king. Anyways... best warn you about my brother Papyrus. He's a human hunting fanatic. Actually, I think that's him over there." He stated, pointing behind Ruby.

"Wait, What?" She asked, turning her head quickly.

"Hey, I have an idea." He stated, walking past Ruby, gesturing her to follow. "Follow me through this gate thingy. Yep, walk on through. My brother made the bars too wide to stop anyone." They walked over to what appeared to be a century station and a rose bush. The bush appeared to be as tall as Ruby. "Quickly, behind that conveniently sized rose bush." He stated, pointing to it. Ruby used her semblance and hid behind it.

"What do you say Chara?" She whispered. "Should we trust him?"

 _"_ _He seems too lazy to be a viable threat. So yeah, I'd trust him. Just so you know, any more puns and I'm gonna kill myself."_

"Aren't you already dead?" Ruby asked innocently.

 _"_ _That's the point Ruby."_ Chara sighed in disappointment.

"Sup, bro?" They heard Sans say from back on the path.

"YOU KNOW WHAT'S "SUP", BROTHER!" A taller skeleton, who Ruby assumed was Papyrus, shouted. He was definitely the complete opposite of his brother. Sans was short, quiet and introverted, while Papyrus was tall, loud and extroverted. "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS, AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?" He asked, folding his arms and scowling at his brother. The shorter skeleton simply shrugged.

"Staring at these roses. They're really pretty. Surface plants aren't common underground you know. And the fact that there are roses here in Snowdin is really special. Would you like to look?"

Ruby felt bad for the monsters. A hundred years, a hundred years since they even saw the sun. Most don't even know what it looks like. Poor things. Something that humans like herself take for granted is a luxury when considering these poor monsters, imprisoned for a hundred years because of... Oum knows what.

"NO!" Papyrus replied, stamping his foot. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!" He stopped stamping his foot. He felt a gust of wind and took full advantage of it. He struck a dramatic pose and allowed his scarf to blow in the wind. Ruby on the other hand wanted the opposite and held her cloak down. "THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT, RECOGNITION! I WILL FINALLY BE A PART OF THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO BE MY, "FRIEND"? I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING!" He sighed, getting lost in his thoughts.

"Hmm..." Sans interrupted. "Maybe this rose bush will help you."

"SANS! YOU'RE REALLY NOT HELPING YOU LAZY BONES! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY! IT ISN'T HEALTHY!"

"Hey relax will ya? I got a ton of work done today."

"SANS, DON'T YOU DARE!"

"A _skele-ton_." He winked. A faint rim-shot could be heard in the background.

"SANS!" Papyrus lectured. The shorter one just smiled.

"Come on Paps, you're smiling."

"I AM AND I HATE IT!" The taller one confirmed, trying to fight off the smile that was on his face. Sans just smiled. "SIGH... WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST FOR RECOGNITION?"

"Wow..." Sans began, sounding like he was showing sympathy to his brother. Until... "It sounds like you're working yourself, d _own to the bone."_

"UGH!" Papyrus yelled in frustration. "I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES! AS FOR YOUR WORK? TRY TO PUT A LITTLE MORE _BACKBONE_ INTO IT! NYEH HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH" He started laughing like a maniac before walking away. He walked back soon afterwards. "HEH!" He threw in one more laugh before leaving again... he returned shortly afterwards one last time. "THOSE ROSES REALLY ARE PRETTY." He sighed before leaving for keeps.

"Not bad, though he'll hate himself for that pun later. You can come out now Ruby, he's gone." He called. The teenager walked out, bundled in her cloak, shivering. "Geez kid. You must be absolutely rigid. One moment please." He stated, teleporting away, re appearing soon afterwards with an old red sweater. "Here. It's Pap's from when he was younger. He won't miss it."

"Thank you..." Ruby smiled shyly, taking the sweater. She put it on and felt instantly warmed up.

"Don't mention it. Anyways... you best get going. He might come back. And if he does..." He was serious for a moment, now he has a giant stupid smile on his face. "You'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes."

"so it's a win/lose situation." Ruby teased. Sans scowled at her, then smiled again.

"Oh hah hah." He replied sarcastically. Ruby giggled. She started walking away when... "Actually hey, wait. I hate to bother ya but..." Ruby stopped and looked at the skeleton. She was making sure she actually heard him speak, he is really quiet. He looked like something was bothering him.

"What's up Sans?" She asked, showing concern for her new friend.

"Could you do me a favour?"

"Sure? What's up?"

"I was thinking... my brother's been kind of down lately, and he's never seen a human before, and seeing you might just make his day. So... um, what I'm trying to say is... will you let my brother see you? Don't worry. He isn't dangerous or anything, even when he tries to be. So will you do it?"

"Sure. As a huntress, it is my duty to make every citizen feel happy and secure, also safe."

"You're a huntress? That's hilarious. Thanks a million. I'll be up ahead." He smiled before walking in the completely opposite direction. Ruby stared in confusion and sighed, following the path properly.

 _"_ _I like the taller one better."_ Chara commented. Ruby rolled her eyes.

"They're both fine in my opinion. Hey look, another one of those lights."

 _"_ _That is called a_ save point _. If you die, you will respawn there."_ Chara corrected. Ruby nodded in acknowledgement. She walked over and touched it.

 _"_ _The convenience of that bush still fills you with DETERMINATION."_ Chara narrated.

"You really like doing that don't you?" Ruby joked, receiving a sigh from the ghost.

 _"_ _Ruby... shut up."_

Ruby walked towards a path going to the left and found a river. There was a fishing rod hanging out of the water. Ruby reeled it in to find a note attached and a picture of a weird monster.

 _'_ _Call me. Here's my number.'_

She decided not to call. She back tracked to the other path and tripped over a rock. She didn't make much noise, but she did scare herself.

"SO AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE!" Papyrus began. But he paused, which made Ruby assume she was heard. The tall skeleton leaned in to whisper to his brother. "SANS! OH MY GOD! IS THAT A HUMAN?" The shorter skeleton jumped at the sudden loud volume in his ear. (Do skeletons have ears?)

"Uh... actually, I think that's a rock." He replied sarcastically. Ruby looked behind her to see he was gesturing to the rock she tripped over.

"OH..." Papyrus looked disappointed.

"But hey, what's that in front of the rock?" He asked, trying to lift Papyrus' spirits.

"OH MY GOD!" The tall skeleton exclaimed in excitement. "(IS... IS THAT A HUMAN?)" He whispered to his brother for clarification.

"Yes." Sans responded, with frustration actually present in his voice. Though, the skeleton was still smiling.

"OH MY GOD! SANS! I FINALLY DID IT!" Papyrus exclaimed excitedly. Sans gave Ruby a thankful smile, which she returned. "UNDYNE WILL... I'LL BE SO... POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!" He cheered, jumping in the air. "WAIT... SANS? IS SHE WEARING MY OLD SWEATER?"

"Uh... yeah. She was cold. I wasn't gonna let her freeze." He shrugged, scratching at his cheekbone.

"WOWIE! THAT'S SO NICE OF YOU BROTHER!" Papyrus praised, placing a gloved hand on his brother's shoulder. "AHEM! HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL STOP YOU! THEN I WILL CAPTURE YOU! AND I WILL DELIVER YOU TO THE CAPITAL! THEN..." He trailed off. "THEN... I'M NOT REALLY SURE WHAT COMES NEXT. IN ANY CASE... CONTINUE, ONLY IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEHEHEHEHEHEHEH" He taunted with a smile, running off.

"Well, that went well." Sans commented, grinning. Ruby was also smiling. "Don't sweat it kid. I'll keep an eye socket out for ya." Then with a wink, he left. Ruby walked the path behind him and saw a sign. Reading it, she was more confused than if she didn't read it.

 _'_ _Absolutely NO MOVING!'_

And of course, naturally Ruby moved. She heard a voice from the sentry station beside her.

"Did something move?" Ruby looked over to see a dog like monster poke his head out. Ruby thought he kinda looked like Zwei. He was squinting, his eyes were shifting rapidly. "Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things."

 _"_ _What the hell?"_ Chara asked in confusion. _"_ _At least when I was alive the royal guard could fu-"_ they stopped them self, remembering they were inhabiting a fifteen year old. _"_ _Ahem... they could see. This is just sad and pathetic."_

"If something WAS moving, for instance a human, I'll make sure it _never_ moves AGAIN!" He shouted, dragging Ruby into combat.

"Chara! What should I do?" She cried in desperation.

 _"_ _Simple. This monster can only see moving things so I'll assume he uses blue magic. If an attack is blue, you don't move or it will hurt you. Understand?"_ Chara explained.

"Seems simple enough." Ruby confirmed. "Don't move. I think I got it."

Doggo let out a series of attacks on Ruby. Every single one was blue, so the reaper just stood there and let them hit her. Like Chara said before, there was no pain. Ruby also noticed that her aura was untouched. With lightning speed, Ruby pet Doggo on the head.

"Pet pat pot pet pat pot pet pet pet... What? I was pet?" then the battle ended. Doggo looked bothered by something. But Ruby remembered what he said before and didn't move. "S-s-something pet me! Something that wasn't moving! I'm gonna need dog treats for this." Then he ducked behind his sentry station. Ruby, not taking chances, ran across the path with her semblance. She walked out to see Sans standing there.

"Hey Sans!" The reaper greeted warmly. The skeleton smiled and waved at her.

"Hey. I have some useful advice for when you fight my brother." He replied. He was smiling, but Ruby could hear slight aggression in his voice. "He has this ability to create blue attacks, which means that you don't move, and it won't hurt you. It's kinda like a stop sign. When you see it you stop. So, just imagine a blue stop sign. Sound easy enough?"

"Yeah. Thanks Sans, you're great help." Ruby smiled, walking past the skeleton and slipping on ice. She slid across to the other side, and then she face planted.

"You okay? There's ice there." Sans teased, teleporting to the other side and helping Ruby to her feet. She nodded and brushed the snow off.

"Yeah I'm fine. I should watch where I'm going though." She laughed. Sans laughed too.

"Yeah. I'd really hate to _snow_ what would happen if you hurt yourself. I bet it isn't an _ice_ experience." Sans joked. Ruby only groaned. "Hey, stop giving me the _cold shoulder_ Ruby." He continued. Ruby sighed and walked away. She was thrown into combat randomly, only to be confronted by...

"Aw aren't you the cutest little thing?" Ruby asked, cooing over Lesser Dog. She pet its head, and could have sworn she saw its head extend. She spared it and kept going. Her scroll rang.

"Hello?"

"Ruby! I'm glad I can still get a hold of you!" A relieved sounding Weiss stated from the other end. "I researched that symbol you sent Yang. It's called a 'Delta Rune.' It's the symbol of peace for the underground monsters. The three triangles are to represent humans, Faunus, and monsters and the circle and wings are to represent a prophesized angel coming to free the monsters from their prison."

"How did you find this stuff?"

"That, Ruby is for me to know and you to learn for yourself. Getting back on topic, this prophesy is double sided, meaning that it could mean two different things."

"I know what double sided means Weiss. I'm not an idiot."

"I know that you dolt! I was just clarifying that it was a two way prophesy, not using the front and back of the same paper."

"Whatever! What are the possible outcomes?"

"The angel sent from above could save the monsters by destroying the barrier, or by killing each and every monster down there. Either way, there will be bloodshed. Monsters will either escape and kill us or, someone goes down and kills them."

"Weiss!" Ruby snapped, startling the heiress. "These monsters are not mean degenerate killers! Here, let me show you!" The heiress was confused, until she heard Ruby call someone over. "Sans! Can you come here for a moment?"

"Sure, Sup Ruby?" Weiss stared in shock when the skeleton walked on screen.

"Weiss here believes that all monsters are murders. Please tell her otherwise." Sans didn't say anything. He just glared at Weiss with blank eyes. The heiress immediately went pale. His eyes regained their pupils and he smiled.

"No. Not all of us. Just be careful of the small amount of us who do. And with the rate Ruby here is going, they will be on the good side soon enough." Then he walked away. Both Ruby and Weiss were confused.

"Wow... you sure make weird friends Ruby." Weiss commented with a sweat drop. Ruby nodded.

"I've never seen him mad before."

"You say that like you've known him for a long time you dolt!" Weis scolded. Ruby rolled her eyes and hung up. She held her head in her hand and sighed, then kept walking.

"YOU'RE SO LAZY!" Ruby looked up and noticed that Papyrus was lecturing Sans, and couldn't help but smile. "YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!"

"I think that's called sleeping." Sans replied with a shrug.

"NO EXCUSES!" Papyrus yelled. Ruby died laughing, alerting the skeletons of her presence. "OH HO! THE HUMAN ARRIVES!"

"Yep! That's me!" Ruby replied enthusiastically, placing her hands on her hips. Papyrus looked perplexed.

"SANS! THE HUMAN IS TOO ADORABLE! I MIGHT NOT WANT TO CAPTURE HER!" Papyrus laughed. Sans rolled his eyes and smiled. "IN ANY CASE, IN ORDER TO STOP YOU, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME MORE PUZZLES!" Papyrus explained with a smile. "I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE, QUITE _SHOCKING_!" He then realized the pun and looked distraught with himself. "...FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE."

"Dun dun dun..." Sans mumbled. Clearly Papyrus made him do the audio cue.

"WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMIDISTER A HEARTY ZAP!" He explained, pulling out a large cyan orb. "SOUND LIKE FUN?" He asked slyly.

"Yeah, I guess so." Ruby replied with a smile.

"BECAUSE... THE AMMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL I THINK..." He trailed off, looking confused. "OKAY, YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW!"

Ruby took a step forward, and Papyrus got electrocuted.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Ruby asked in concern. Papyrus looked unfazed.

"SANS! WHAT DID YOU DO?" Sans looked hurt at being put on blame, but shrugged it off.

"I'm pretty sure the human needs to be holding the orb first Paps."

"OH, OKAY." Papyrus realized. He walked through the maze and placed the orb on Ruby's head. Miraculously it didn't fall off. He walked back to his position on the other end. Ruby then realized he left tracks in the snow to reveal the path, and followed it.

"INCREDIBLE YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL!" Papyrus gasped in admiration. "YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY... TOO EASILY..." He eyed her suspiciously. "HOWEVER THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT WAS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER SANS! YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM. NYEH HEHEHEHEH!" He laughed triumphantly, running off.

"Sans, what do you have planned?" Ruby asked with a smile.

"You'll just have to wait and see." He replied slyly. "By the way, thanks for helping my brother. He seems to be having fun."

"No problem. All in a day's work." She smiled, pulling out Crescent Rose and striking a dramatic pose. Sans smiled.

"By the way, did you see that weird outfit he's wearing?"

"A little hard not to if you ask me." Ruby giggled. She didn't notice the flustered look on the skeleton's face.

"We made that outfit a few weeks ago for a costume party. He hasn't worn anything else since. He keeps calling it his "battle body". Man. Isn't my brother cool?" he praised. Ruby smiled.

"He sure is. If you don't mind me asking, who's older?"

"I'm older. Papyrus keeps bugging me about being lazy because it isn't healthy for someone my age. You'd think I was thirty or something."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen. Why? How old are you?"

"Fifteen." She replied with a smile. Sans looked shocked.

"Wow. I would have guessed older, but yet you're a year younger than my brother." He realized in disbelief. "Well, you best get going. I have a very difficult task ahead for you." Sans winked, teleporting away.

Ruby walked over to an ice cream vendor. He looked sad.

"Darn... I don't understand why these aren't selling... it's the perfect weather for something cold..." He sighed. Ruby tapped his shoulder, getting his attention. "OH! A CUSTOMER! Hello! Would you like some Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart! Only 15g." Ruby smiled and pulled 30g from her pocket and bought two. The Nice Cream vendor looked overcome with joy.

 _"_ _That was nice of you to do."_ Chara praised as Ruby walked away from the bunny monster.

"Oh hey Chara! Long time no hear. It wasn't like I was going to ignore him. He looked so sad."

 _"_ _I swear I will never understand you hunters and your need to make people happy."_ Chara sighed.

"Yeah yeah. Come on. I have a feeling that we have a long way to go."

The next room had a snowball and some sort of hole in it. Ruby kicked the snowball and got it in the hole in one kick. A red flag popped out of the hole. Ruby walked over and found 40g in the hole.

"Sweet!" Ruby cheered, grabbing the money.

 _"_ _I still don't understand how this works..."_ Chara mused. Ruby shrugged and kept walking. The next room contained the two brothers and a piece of paper. Ruby assumed that was the trap and rolled her eyes. Why was she not surprised?

"HUMAN! I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR..." Papyrus began before trailing off. "SANS! WHERE'S THE PUZZLE!?" Papyrus demanded, getting angry.

"It's right there on the ground. Trust me. There is _no_ way she can get past this one." He replied with what sounded like fake confidence. Ruby rolled her eyes. At least he put in minimal effort. For Sans that's an accomplishment. Ruby picked up the paper and started working on the puzzle. She solved it in five minutes.

"SANS! THAT DIDN'T DO ANHYTHING!" Papyrus scolded.

"Whoops. I know I should have used today's crossword instead." The shorter skeleton pondered. He actually seemed serious.

WHAT?! CROSSWORD? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT! IN MY OPINION, JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST!"

"What? Really dude? That easy-peasy word scramble? That's for baby bones." Sans countered with a slightly offended, slightly amused look on his face. Papyrus looked baffled.

"UN. BELIEVABLE. HUMAN! SOLVE THIS DISPUTE! WHICH IS HARDER?"

"Um..." Ruby thought for a moment. "Crosswords in my opinion." She shrugged. Sans smiled.

"Glad you see things my way." He said, placing a bony hand on her shoulder.

"YOU TWO ARE WEIRD." Papyrus joked, ruffling Ruby's hair. "CROSSWORDS ARE SO EASY." And there goes the happy mood... "IT'S THE SAME SOLUTION EVERY TIME! I FILL ALL THE BOXES WITH Z's, BECAUSE ALL I DO IS SNORE! NYEH HEH HEH!" He got in one more little quip before running off. Sans looked mentally exhausted, but was still smiling.

"Papyrus... finds difficulty in interesting places." Sans sighed. Ruby nodded in understanding. "Yesterday he got stumped trying to "solve" the horoscope."

"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say whether that surprises me or not."

"Go ahead." Sans joked.

"Okay... I'm not surprised." Ruby laughed.

"I wouldn't be either. Bye Ruby." Sans sent his goodbyes as the cloak wearing reaper departed.

 _"_ _Knowing that one day the mouse might find a way to heat up the spaghetti fills you with DETERMINATION."_

Ruby rolled her eyes at the voice as she reached another save point. She noticed an unplugged microwave and a plate of frozen spaghetti. She tired picking it up, but it was stuck to the table. The aroma coming off of it was gut wrenching to say the least. There was a note.

 _'_ _HUMAN! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI! (LITTLE DO YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS ACTUALLY A TRAP, DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU! YOU'LL BE SOO BUSY EATING IT THAT YOU WON'T REALIZE YOU AREN'T PROGRESSING! THOUROUGHLY JAPED AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!) NYE- HEH-HEH! –PAPYRUS."_

"I don't think he needs to worry about me not progressing." Ruby thought with a smile.

 _"_ _Man, if it tastes as bad as it smells... I hope he doesn't pursue a career in culinary arts, here or on the surface."_ Chara commented. They sounded like they were gagging. Ruby nodded and walked to the next room.

"Dog marriage? The heck is a dog marriage?" Ruby asked in confusion, reading a sign.

 _"_ _Something best avoided. They seem kind and naive, but they're extremely dangerous."_ Chara warned. Ruby smiled and went down the path.

 _"_ _Stop you dolt!"_ Chara demanded. Ruby immediately thought of Weiss and shuddered. _"_ _There's a spike wall at the end of the hill. The button is over there in the middle of the three trees."_ Ruby nodded and walked over there. She found a button buried under the snow and pressed it. Not wasting any more time, she used her semblance to run back. Two dogs approached her. Chara explained to her that this was the dog marriage. Their cloaks were covering their eyes.

"What is that smell?" the male dog asked.

"(Where is that smell?)" The female followed up.

"If you're a smell..." The male began.

"(Identify yoursmellf.)" the female finished, in a hardly threatening tone. They ran around Ruby, sniffing at her and the area around her until they focused on her alone.

"Hmmm... this is where the weird smell is coming from." The male realized in a dark tone. "It makes me want to eliminate." He stated, pulling off his hood. His wife did the same.

"(ELIMINATE YOU!)" The female warned, pointing her axe at Ruby. Her soul flashed in front of her and the battle began.

The dog couple were named Dogamy and Dogaressa. They stood there, nuzzling noses While Ruby made the first move. She decided to roll around in the snow. She was wet and cold, but smelled like a weird puppy instead of human. She made a mental note to treat herself to some cookies for this decision when she returns to Patch. The dogs felt the urge to re-sniff her and realized that they were fighting a puppy. **(Or so they think, wink wink)**. Ruby pets them, and blows their minds.

"WOW! Pet by another pup?!"

"(A dog that pets dogs... amazing!)"

Ruby spared them and ended the conflict.

"Dogs can pet other dogs?" Dogamy asked, pulling his hood back up.

"(A whole new world has been opened up for us.)" Dogaressa agreed, doing the same.

"Thanks weird puppy." Dogamy bowed respectfully before walking away with his wife.

"Boy... some of these monsters are weird individuals I tell ya." Ruby sighed. Chara chuckled in agreement. Ruby resumed down the path. There was a puzzle with what appeared to be two blue Xs and a button. Ruby also noticed a sign by the puzzle.

 _'_ _Turn every X into an O, and then press the switch.'_ It read. Ruby nodded and stepped on the two Xs on the ground. They turned into red Os then pressed the button on the ground. She walked over to the now open path and noticed Papyrus standing there.

"WHAT? HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP? AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY... IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?" He asked eagerly. Ruby realized he meant the spaghetti and sighed.

"Uh, yeah. I left it there for you." She tried to sound as nice as possible. The skeleton didn't seem hurt.

"REALLY? WOWIE! YOU RESISTED THE FLAVOUR OF MY HOMECOOKED MEAL _JUST_ SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Ruby tried to sound sincere, and was afraid she was doing a bad job. Papyrus appeared ecstatic.

"FRET NOT HUMAN, FOR I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT! HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH NYEH!" Ruby went pale.

"Oh boy..." She faked a smile. She took back the statement about Napstablook. Papyrus was definitely more like Penny when they first met. Ruby's smile fell.

 _"_ _What's wrong short stack?"_ Chara asked her.

"He reminds me of a friend of mine who died before my school was destroyed. Her name was Penny Polendina."

 _"_ _Sorry to hear that."_ Chara sympathized. Ruby smiled sadly and moved on.

Papyrus was standing there waiting for her. She approached him.

"MY BROTHER STARTED A SOCK COLLECTION RECENTLY." He smiled. "HOW SADDENING..." The smile turned into a scowl really fast. "SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT HE WOULD DO WITHOUT A COOL GUY LIKE ME LOOKING AFTER HIM. NYEH HEH HEH!" He stated the last part with a triumphant smile.

"Who knows?" Ruby shrugged. Papyrus nodded.

"GLAD YOU SEE IT MY WAY HUMAN!"

Ruby walked over to the puzzle, not realizing that Papyrus was doing the same.

"HUMAN!" He bellowed, causing the young reaper to jump."HMM... HOW DO I SAY THIS..? YOU WERE TAKING A LONG TIME TO ARRIVE SO... I DECIDED TO IMPROVE THIS PUZZLE, BY REARRANGING THE SNOW TO LOOK MORE LIKE MY FACE. UNFORTUNATELY THE SNOW FROZE TO THE GROUND. NOW THE SOLUTION IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!" He appeared to be angry with himself. Ruby face palmed but did nothing. "AND AS USUAL MY LAZY BROTHER IS NOWHERE AROUND! I SUPPOSE WHAT I'M SAYING IS, WORRY NOT HUMAN!" He smiled, adopting the dramatic pose when the wind caught up speed again. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM! THEN WE CAN BOTH PROCEED! MEANWHILE, FEEL FREE TO TRY TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE YOURSELF! I'LL TRY NOT TO GIVE AWAY THE ANSWER." ( **A/N: Neither will I.)**

Ruby smiled and attempted the puzzle. After a few wrong guesses she figured it out.

"WOW! YOU SOLVED IT! AND YOU DID IT ALL WITHOUT MY HELP! INCREDIBLE, I'M IMPRESSED! YOU MUST CARE ABOUT PUZZLES AS MUCH AS I DO! WELL I'M SURE YOU'LL LOVE THE NEXT PUZZLE THEN! IT MIGHT EVEN BE TOO EASY FOR YOU! NYEH HEH HEH HEHEHEHEH!" Papyrus praised, rubbing Ruby's head. She fixed her hair and grumbled under her breath. He ran off. Ruby smiled and continued down her path. She spotted Sans on the other side of the puzzle.

"Sup Sans?"She asked, high fiving the skeleton.

"Hey. Good job on solving it so quickly. You didn't even need my help. Which is great because I really enjoy doing nothing." He winked. Ruby smiled and giggled a little. She walked past him and didn't notice the faint blue blush on the skeleton's cheek. She spotted a puzzle in the next room. Sans and Papyrus were standing on the other side of a tile bridge.

"HEY! IT'S THE HUMAN!" Papyrus acknowledged cheerfully. "YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS ONE! IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS! YOU SEE THESE TILES? ONCE I THROW THIS SWITCH, THEY WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLOUR! EACH COLOUR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION! RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE. YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM. YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC, THEY WILL ELECTROCUTE YOU! GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES; THEY WILL ALERT A MONSTER FOR YOU TO FIGHT! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE SCENTED! THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES. SWIM THROUGH IF YOU LIKE, BUT IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES THE PIRAHNAS WILL BITE YOU! ALSO IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A YELLOW TILE THE WATER WILL BECOME ELECTRIFIED. PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY. YOU WILL SLIDE TO THE NEXT TILE. HOWEVER THE SLIPPERY SOAP SMELLS LIKE LEMONS, WHICH PIRAHNAS DON'T LIKE. PURPLE AND BLUE ARE OKAY. FINALLY, PINK TILES. THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING. STEP ON THEM ALL YOU LIKE. HOW WAS THAT, UNDERSTAND?" He asked, winded from all the explaining. Ruby paused for a moment, and then smiled.

"Yep, all set." She stated with a smile. Papyrus nodded.

"GREAT! THEN THERE'S ONE LAST THING. THIS PUZZLE IS COMPLETELY RANDOM! WHEN I PULL THIS SWITCH, IT WILL MAKE A PUZZLE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE, AND PROBABLY WILL NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN. NOT EVEN I KNOW THE SOLUTION! NYEH HEH HEH! GET READY!" He concluded with a smile. Ruby waited nervously as tiles lit up and started shifting around. The tiles were changing more and more, faster and faster, until it stopped on a clear path of solid pink surrounded by two paths of red. To say it was anti-climactic was an understatement. Papyrus was embarrassed, and hid it by spinning his way out of the area. Ruby face palmed and walked the path. Sans gestured for her to approach.

"Actually, that spaghetti from earlier wasn't too bad for my brother. Since he started his cooking lessons he's been improving a lot. Who knows, maybe if he keeps it up, next year he might be able to make something edible." He shrugged with a smile.

"You got me there. To be honest, if it wasn't stuck to the table I still wouldn't eat it." Ruby agreed. Sans nodded.

"I gag when I eat his food, and I don't have a tongue, but he loves it." Sans went pale with the thought. Ruby smiled. Saying their goodbyes, Ruby moved on to the next room.

"This is... creepy..." Ruby shuddered. Surrounding her were a bunch of broken dog statues. Heads were here, discarded necks there. It looked like it was right out of a horror movie. Finding a save point, she walked to it.

 _"_ _Knowing that dog will never give up trying to make the perfect snowdog fills you with DETERMINATION."_

She walked up to a deer monster. The lady seemed saddened by something.

"A dog just rushed in here, filled with inspiration." The deer sighed. "It kept trying to build a snowdog that expressed its own emotions. But as it built, it grew more and more excited about the sculpture. Its neck kept getting longer and longer, it added more snow until..." She trailed off, getting lost in the tragedy of the dog artist. "It was rather sad to watch." Ruby nodded and placed a hand on the deer's shoulder.

 _"_ _Geez it's just snow sculptures. You'd think that the deer was talking about someone failing to save a monster that fell down."_ Chara sighed.

Ruby was confused, but didn't comment further on the subject. Continuing on, Ruby paused at the sight of another switch puzzle. She examined it; looking for a pattern before thinking she saw the answer. She miscalculated her descent and fell over the edge, falling to the snow down below. She saw a snow sculpture of Papyrus and a simple snowpoff with the name 'Sans' written on it in red marker. She took a selfie with the Papyrus statue and went back uphill. She calculated her descent better and managed to solve the puzzle, sliding down the newly formed bridge. She felt something on her head and realized it was snow in the shape of a dog. Weird. She came across a room that was filled with snowpoffs. The second last one she looked at was filled with 30g, while the last one had a puppy in it... that was in a ginormous suit of armour...

"And I thought I'd seen it all at this point..." Ruby muttered as she and the Greater Dog engaged in combat.

The Greater Dog (yes that's the actual name) was huge. Ruby still thought it was adorable though. She beckoned it and pet it a lot. The dog looked like it wanted to play.

"You wanna play big guy?"She cooed, making a snowball and throwing it. The Greater Dog ran off and grabbed all the snow then dumped it on Ruby's head, panting. It appears to be tired. Ruby started petting it. It sunk its entire weight into her, making her feel heavy. Though the dog wasn't as heavy as Ruby thought it would be. She kept petting it, but Greater Dog still wasn't pet enough. Finally, pet capacity was at 100%. Ruby spared it and moved on.

"That dog is so CUTE!" She cooed, wiping the slobber off her nose. Chara was giggling.

 _"_ _Yeah, he really was. But still,_ that's _what our royal guard has become? I think Papyrus would be better off as a royal guardsman, and he doesn't appear that competent."_

"Yeah, I kind of have to agree with you there." Ruby sighed in agreement as she was walking on a _surprisingly_ sturdy wooden bridge. That was when she noticed...

"HUMAN!" Yep, it was Papyrus. "THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!" He exclaimed dramatically, pressing a button. The gauntlet consisted of cannons, spears, fired, swinging maces... a dog on a string... other than that it was threatening. "WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! CANNONS WILL FIRE, SPIKES WILL SWING, AND BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE AT VICTORY WILL REMAIN! ARE YOU READY? BECAUSE! I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!"

"Well? What's the holdup?" Sans asked with a smirk, tapping his slippered foot on the ground. Papyrus was temporarily lost for words, as if he was caught in a lie.

"HOLDUP? WHAT HOLDUP? I'M, I'm ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW, SEE!" The tall skeleton replied with a slight blush on his cheekbones. He was embarrassed.

"That doesn't seem very activated." Ruby quipped, seeming bored and amused by the skeleton's antics. Papyrus looked at her in shock.

"WELL! THIS CHALLENGE! IT SEEMS... MAYBE... TOO EASY TO DEFEAT YOU WITH. YEAH! WE CAN'T USE THIS ONE! I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED!" Ruby was trying very hard to hold in laughter. It's noble for him to do and all, but the speedster was in no danger. Chara however was dying of laughter, making Ruby find difficulty in listening to the skeleton. "THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT, NO CLASS AT ALL! AND AWAY IT GOES!" He cheered, putting the trap away. Ruby stared up to the cave ceiling in confusion. Where did the trap come from? "PHEW..." Papyrus sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" He asked defensively, noticing Ruby staring at him. "THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! NYEH! HEH... HEH?" He sighed, running off. Ruby finished crossing the bridge.

"I don't know what my brother is going to do now." Sans sighed. "If I were you, I'd make sure I understand _blue attacks_."

"Will do, thanks Sans." Ruby smiled, giving the skeleton a small fist bump before moving on.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four: Snowdin part II- Snowdin Town

Snowdin town was too small to be a town. Heck, it was too small to be a village. To Ruby, it was more like a small cluster of houses just called a town. There was a shop, a hotel, a librarby (Spelled wrong), and a little pub called Grillby's. Despite its cold climate, the little town had enough spirit to warm even the coldest person's soul. Ruby imagined Cinder coming in here and smiling to at least one townsfolk. She paid the little shop a visit.

"Howdy!" A cheerful southern rabbit monster welcomed her. "May I help you dear traveller?"

"Hi!" Ruby greeted. "I was wondering what you have for sale here."

"Let me see here..." The rabbit trailed off while searching her inventory. "I have a glove here that raises attack to five... a bandana that raises your defence to seven... bisicles that heal eleven hp twice... some cinnamon bunnies, they're my own recipe. Any of this appeal to you sugar?" She asked politely. Ruby smiled.

"I'll take two cinnamon bunnies and a bisicle please." Ruby smiled.

"That will be 65g sugar cube." Ruby handed over the money. "Would you like to know about this here town while you're here?"

"Sure." Ruby replied with a warm smile. The bunny giggled.

"What would you like to know?"

"How's life?" Ruby asked, unsure what to say first. The bunny just laughed.

"Life's the same as usual, a little claustrophobic." She began with a sour look on her face. She regained the smile though. "But... we all know deep down that freedom is coming, don't we? As long as we got that hope, we can grit our teeth and face the same struggles, day after day..." she looked saddened by this thought. "That's life, ain't it?"

 _"_ _Change the subject!"_ Chara warned. Ruby nodded.

"What's the town history like? Anything interesting?" she asked quickly. The bunny nodded.

"Think back to your history class. A long time ago, monsters lived in the ruins back there in the forest." Ruby remembered Toriel and was saddened by it. She simply nodded. "Long story short, we all decided to leave the ruins and head for the other end of the caverns. Along the way some fuzzy folk decided they preferred the cold and set up camp in Snowdin. Oh, and don't even think of trying to explore the ruins. The door has been locked for ages. So unless you're a ghost or can burrow under the door, forget about it."

"What can you do around here?" Ruby asked, looking around. There didn't seem to be much.

"You want to know what to do here in Snowdin?" She asked, almost in shock. "Grillby's has food and the library has information. If you're tired, you can take a nap at the inn. It's right next door, my sister runs it. And if you're bored, you can sit outside and watch those wacky skeletons do their thing. There are two of them, brothers I think. They just showed up one day and... asserted themselves."

"Oh yeah. I met them on the way here. They're definitely something." Ruby giggled, remembering the antics Papyrus pulled during her walk through the woods.

"Ah yes. The town has definitely gotten a lot more interesting since they arrived."

"Well, I best get going." Ruby smiled, stating her goodbyes. The bunny smiled.

"Yep! And welcome to Snowdin! I can't remember the last time I saw a fresh face around 'ere."

Ruby waved and walked up to the save point beside the shop.

 _"_ _The sight of such a friendly town fills you with determination."_

Ruby yawned and stretched. Feeling tired, she did as the bunny lady said and visited the inn.

"Hiya! Welcome to Snowed Inn!" The bunny at the counter greeted with a smile. Ruby smiled and walked over to her.

"Hi. I'd like a room."

"For one night that'll be 80g." The bunny smiled. Ruby paid her. "Great. Here's your key. Make sure to bundle up!"

Ruby ran upstairs to her room and flopped on the bed.

 _"_ _Idiot! Keep moving!"_ Chara scolded.

"Sans said I need to fight Papyrus. It's best to be well rested before fighting."

 _"_ _Yeah whatever."_ The ghost groaned. Ruby was ignoring them as she snuggled up under the blanket and fell asleep. She woke up feeling refreshed. Picking up Crescent Rose off the night stand, she went downstairs to return the key.

"Hiya! You look like you had a great sleep!" The bunny quipped, taking the key. "Which is incredible, considering you were only up there for about five minutes."

"Wait really?" Ruby asked in shock, staring at a clock. Miraculously the woman was right. It has been only five minutes.

"Here's your money back. You can pay me if you're going to stay overnight."

Ruby, still confused over how the hell that even worked, walked out without another word. She walked over to a bear monster that was placing a present under a Christmas tree.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing?" Ruby asked out of curiosity. On the surface it was April, not December.

"Awful teens tormented a local monster by decorating its tree like horns." He started in a deep voice. "So we started giving him gifts to make him feel better. Now it's tradition to put presents under a decorated tree."

"Oh! Neat!" Ruby quipped. She ran off to get a box and placed something inside it. She decorated it and placed it under the tree. She addressed it to Papyrus. (The present was a written out copy of her dad's spaghetti recipe. She thought he'd like it. Ruby didn't like pasta anyways.) She walked over to a kid in a striped shirt. He didn't have any arms.

"Yo! You're a kid too right? I can tell because you're short!" Ruby looked insulted.

"I'll have you know I'm a teenager! A young adult!" She corrected. The monster looked guilty.

"Yo, sorry. Didn't mean to assume, ha-ha." Ruby forced a smile and walked away. She was about to enter Grillby's, but when she saw it was filled with all the dogs from the Canine Unit she fought before, she turned and walked away. There was a mouse in a scarf standing nearby with a devilish looking monster beside him. The little mouse looked sad.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked, pulling the scarf away from the small mouse's eyes.

"Everyone is always laughing and cracking jokes, trying to forget about our modern crises. Dreariness, crowding, lack of sunlight. I would join them, but I'm just not very funny." He sighed. Ruby smiled.

"Maybe you should go talk to that skeleton, Sans. I'm sure he can hit you up with some jokes." She winked. The mouse seemed enlightened. Even through the scarf, Ruby could tell he was smiling.

"Which one is he?"

"The short one."

"Thank you."

She smiled and went to talk to the devil looking monster. He looked like the smile on his face was being _heavily_ forced.

"We all know the underground has problems, but we smile anyways."

"Why?" Ruby asked. She was genuinely confused.

"Why?" The monster repeated. "We can't do anything, so why be morose about it?" He replied cheerfully. Ruby took a mental note on that one.

"What wise words." She muttered to herself. "Sounds like something Blake or Yang would say..."

She walked a little over to the right. There was a library. Or should I say...

"Librarby? I wonder who the genius was that made that sign." She giggled to herself. Chara agreed.

 _"_ _Sounds like something either Sans or Papyrus would do if you ask me."_

"Speak of the devil, I think I see a silhouette of him in the fog over there." Ruby stated, making her way to the edge of the town. She walked past a house which she noticed had two mail boxes, one full the other empty. They were labeled "Sans" and "Papyrus". "So that's where they live." Ruby quipped, otherwise ignoring the house. She walked into the fog, being on her toes because the silhouette could have been a trick or something. Her fears were short lived though.

"HUMAN." The figure stated in a dramatic tone. Ruby smiled, the voice was so distinct that hiding the identity was pointless.

"Hi Papyrus." She replied with a smirk. Chara was laughing her ass off.

"WHAT? HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO IDENTIFY ME IN ALL THIS FOG?" Ruby simply shrugged. "NO MATTER! I WILL CONTINUE MY SPEECH REGARDLESS!" The sound of paper could be heard. Ruby assumed he was reading a written script. "AUGH! BLAST THIS FOG..." He groaned. The sound of a trombone behind Ruby could be heard. "SANS! STOP PLAGUING MY LIFE WITH INCIDENTAL MUSIC! NO MATTER!" He declared a second time, dropping the script. "I'LL MAKE IT UP AS I GO! AHEM! ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS! FEELINGS LIKE THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER, THE ADMIRATION OF ONE'S PUZZLE SOLVING SKILLS, THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL! THESE FEELINGS... THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE THINKING RIGHT NOW."

"Debatable... I'm not really a fan of pasta..." Ruby muttered. It was true, she hated pasta, but Papyrus' cooking was a whole new level of gross.

"I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT'S LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY..." He sighed, completely ignoring Ruby. "AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON'T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE." Ruby couldn't help but pity him now. "I PITY YOU LONELY HUMAN..." He was looking more and more depressed as he went on. Ruby felt really bad. She kinda just wanted to hug the skeleton and say everything would be okay. "WORRY NOT! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR... NO. WAIT. THIS IS WRONG. I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND. YOU ARE A HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU! THEN I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM! POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS! THAT'S PAPYRUS! THE NEWEST MEMBER, OF THE ROYAL GUARD!" He boasted, engaging them into combat. Again and again he attacked, and again and again Ruby never fought back. He boasted, she refused. He attacked, she dodged. At first it was easy, then he turned her soul blue and everything got super heavy. She couldn't dodge as easily, due to the fact that gravity was now in proper law of physics. Finally, it was time for the special attack.

"You... put up a... good fight... Papyrus..." She huffed between gasps for breath. "What's your special attack? I'm ready." She concluded confidently, standing upright again.

"NYEH! OF COURSE HUMAN! BEHOLD MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" He went to attack, only to reveal a dog nibbling on a bone. "WHAT THE HECK? THAT'S MY SPECIAL ATTACK! HEY YOU STUPID DOG! DO YOU HEAR ME? STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE! HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET BACK HERE WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" He demanded. The dog just slowly shuffled away. A trombone could be heard in the background. "SANS! STOP PLAGUING MY LIFE WITH INCIDENTAL MUSIC! I MEAN IT! SIGH... OH WELL... I'LL JUST USE A SUPER COOL REGULAR ATTACK INSTEAD. SIGH... HERE'S AN ABSOLUTELY NORMAL ATTACK."He huffed, preparing the attack. Ruby was surprised at the 'absolutely normal' attack. By her standards it worked as a special attack. She had to dodge short bones, long bones, bones that bounce up and down, a bone that would put a Goliath Grimm to shame, even the dog that stole the special attack and bones that spelled out "Cool dude" and a skateboarding bone. Ruby started laughing at the last three, though that made her vulnerable and she got hit. Also there was a really slow one she simply stepped over. Papyrus appeared exhausted.

"WELL... –HUFF-... IT'S CLEAR THAT YOU CAN'T –HUFF- DEFEAT ME... YEAH! SEE? YOU'RE SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS! THERE FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITY! I WILL SPARE YOU HUMAN!" Ruby took this as an opportunity and spared Papyrus.

"NYOO HOO HOO..." He sobbed. "I CAN'T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU..." Ruby suddenly felt insulted. She wasn't weak! Even though Chara was laughing at her for that insult she definitely wasn't. "UNDYNE WILL BE SO DISAPPOINTED IN ME. I'LL NEVER GET TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD... AND... MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL STILL REMAIN STAGNANT."

"I'll be your friend."

Papyrus spun his head around to see Ruby sitting there with a smile on her face. He smiled back.

"REALLY? YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS, WITH ME!?" He asked excitedly.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Ruby shrugged. This made the skeleton even more excited.

"WELL THEN, I THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU! WOWIE! WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE PALS WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWEFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM. YOU TAUGHT ME A LOT HUMAN! I HEREBY GRANT YOU PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH! AND I'LL GIVE OU DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE. CONTINUE FORWARD UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN. THEN WHEN YOU REACH THE CAPITAL, CROSS THE BARRIER. THAT'S THE DUST POWERED SEAL THAT'S TRAPPING US UNDERGROUND. ANYTHING CAN ENTER, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT, EXCEPT FOR SOMEONE WITH A POWERFUL SOUL. THAT'S WHY THE KING WANTS TO AQUIRE A HUMAN! HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. THEN US MONSTERS CAN RETURN TO THE SURFACE. OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU..." He scowled. "TO REACH THE SURFACE YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS THROUGH THE KING'S CASTLE. THE KING OF ALL MONSTERS... HE IS..." He trailed off. Ruby was worried for a brief moment, until he smiled. "HE'S A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER. EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY. I AM CERTAIN THAT IF YOU JUST SAY "EXCUSE ME, Mr. DREEMURR... CAN I JUST GO HOME?" HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF. ANYWAY! THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING! I'LL BE AT HOME BEING A COOL FRIEND IF YOU WANT TO HANG OUT! NYEH HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!" Then he literally started walking in the air. Ruby just sighed and followed.

 _"_ _What do you think he has in mind?"_ Chara asked as they walked to the little house they passed earlier. Papyrus was standing in front of it.

"I don't know..." She muttered. "Hey Papyrus!"

"AH! HUMAN! I'M GLAD YOU COULD MAKE IT! I GUESS I SHOULD TAKE MY FRIEND SOMEWHERE SPECIAL! FOLLOW ME!" They walked at a fairly fast pace away from the home. At first Ruby thought they were going to Grillby's, and then they turned around.

"Papyrus? Where are we going?"

"MY HOUSE!"

"Ooookay..?"Ruby thought to herself. Chara chuckled in agreement. "What was the point of walking away then?" She asked, only to be ignored. The skeleton ran inside, and the reaper hesitantly followed. The house looked fairly normal. A living room with a couch and television, a kitchen... with a two story sink, two bedrooms upstairs (One had strange lights coming from underneath. Ruby assumed this was Sans' room.)

"Yep. Totally normal." She stated out loud. Papyrus heard her and stood proud, believing it to be a genuine compliment.

"WHY THANK YOU HUMAN!"

"Papyrus, please, it's Ruby."

"AH! WHAT A LOVELY NAME RUBY!" The skeleton complimented. Ruby smiled nervously. She decided to check out the kitchen. First off, she checked out the 15 foot tall sink.

"IMPRESSED? I IMPROVED THE HIGHT OF MY SINK! NOW I HAVE A LOT MORE ROOM TO STORE BONES INSIDE! TAKE A LOOKSY!" Ruby opened the cupboard to reveal the same annoying dog from before in there, chewing on a bone. "WHAT? CATCH THAT MEDDLING CANINE!" He bellowed, trying to run after the dog. Ruby tried as well. But even with her semblance she couldn't catch it. "CURSES!" He threw down a glove in rage. Ruby briefly saw something on his hand before he placed the glove back on.

"Sorry Papyrus..." Ruby panted. She felt guilty. The skeleton sighed.

"OH WELL... NOTHING WE CAN-"

 ** _'_** ** _Bwah bwah bwah..."_** A trombone could be heard from upstairs. Papyrus snapped.

"SAAAAAAANNNNNSSSSS!" He screamed, running up the stairs. Ruby could hear a door slam and a lock click from where she was standing downstairs. "SANS OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW! I AM TIRED OF GETTTING MY LIFE _PLAGUED_ WITH YOUR INCIDENTAL MUSIC!"

"Get dunked on bro." Sans replied. Ruby wasn't surprised by the mediocre response, but died laughing anyways.

"HUMAN, ARE YOU READY TO HANG OUT?" Papyrus called down the stairs. Ruby nodded and walked up.

"Ready to get started Papyrus." Ruby encouraged with a smile. The tall skeleton smiled.

"THEN FOLLOW ME INTO MY BEDROOM!"

Papyrus' room was actually fairly normal looking. It had a car bed, action figures, a book shelf, a Jolly Rodger flag on the wall, a box of bones, and a computer. She walked up to the box of bones in confusion.

"Papyrus, why do you just have a box filled with bones here?" She picked one up and looked at it. Was there something engraved? Weird thing that skeletons collect on a normal basis?

"AH! THOSE ARE THE ATTACKS I USED ON YOU! GREAT MEMORIES, HUH? SEEMS LIKE IT WAS ONLY YESTERDAY... EVEN THOUGH IT BASICALLY JUST HAPPENED." He scowled with the last statement. "ARE YOU READY TO BEGIN HANGING OUT?" Ruby smiled with a confident nod, getting ready for what he had in store.

 **(A/N: I'm not going to do like that dating minigame from the game, I'm just going to have them play and hang out like normal people.)**

"I, THE GREAT SHERRIF, DECLARE YOU AN OUTLAW!" Papyrus taunted, having his action figure throw Ruby's in jail.

"Noooo..." Ruby cried with a giggle. Her second character was in the bar ordering drinks.

"We caught the crook bartender. Give everyone in here a round on me." Then she placed the toy down.

"I'm sorry Papyrus, I have to go. If I want to get out of here, I need to keep moving."

"I understand. Here, take my number. You can call me any time."

"Thanks." She smiled, taking the piece of paper he handed her. And with that, she left.

 _"_ _Well that was a waste of time."_ Chara complained. Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Not entirely. We made him happy. That's all that matters."

 _"_ _Yes. Because being trapped in an underground prison is better than having a single un-happy monster."_

Ruby said nothing more on the subject as she entered Waterfall.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five: What's up on the surface?

 **A/N: This chapter is pretty much the other RWBY characters' point of view while all of this is going on, starting at Yang heading to Patch with the news of Ruby's predicament. It will also be a short chapter :D. I still own neither.**

"GUYS! HUGE PROBLEM!" Yang announced as she burst the door open. Blake winced at the loud noises.

"Hey. Sensitive ears." She snapped. Though, realizing the brawler's panic, she stopped talking.

"What's wrong Yang?" Jaune asked quickly. "Where's Ruby?"

The blonde wiped tears off her face. Jaune's face fell as he assumed the worst. Tears trickled down his face.

"Youknowhowwewentonthatgrimmhuntoveronmountebottwelltherewasagiantholeandrubydidn'tnoticesoshefellinandnowshestrappedinsidethemountainand-" She was cut off by a slap across the face. The person who slapper her was Nora. "Thanks." She mumbled, rubbing her cheek.

"You're welcome. Now, will you slow down and breathe long enough to tell us what happened in a way we can understand?"

"Right..." She muttered. "Well, you guys know how Ruby and I were on a Grimm hunt over at Mount Ebott, right?" She asked, getting a bunch of nods in acknowledgement. "Well, there's a giant hole that leads to the inside of the mountain, which Ruby fell down."

"WHAT?" Everyone looked over to see Jaune standing up, his face filled with rage. "You mean to say that Ruby fell down into the mountain that's rumoured to have inhabited monsters for over a century, and you never went after her to make sure she leaves alive!?" He was right in the other blonde's face. Yang looked uncomfortable as tears began running down her face again. She buried her face in her hands and she just started sobbing. She couldn't resist. Jaune felt guilty for his outburst, and just quietly sat back down beside Ren. The martial artist placed a comforting hand on his leader's shoulder, as Nora and Blake comforted the distressed female across from them. Weiss just looked annoyed.

"What's the big deal? She got herself into this mess. Besides, Ruby's strong. If she gets into any danger, she's more than capable with handling a few monsters." This made Yang mad. Her eyes went a deep scarlet as she walked over to the former heiress.

"This has nothing to do with Ruby's strength Weiss! It's the fact that I failed her by not trying harder to get her out before she had to keep going through the mountain! I failed her as a sister and as a teammate! Don't you even care about what dangers she might face?"

"Of course I am!" The Ice Queen defended. "I'm just confident in my leader's abilities and have faith in her emerging from that mountain alive!"

"One person! Hundreds of monsters! No matter how skilled Ruby is, do you really think that she'll be able to handle them all without growing tired or wounded enough to be exposed so she can be finished off?"

"Well, when you put it that way..." Weiss sighed. Yang sighed and her red eyes returned to their lavender colour. That was when her scroll rang.

"Ruby! Are you okay? Are you still underground?" The blonde asked in a panic. Jaune perked up at the mention of his girlfriend's name.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm still trying to find my way through. You wouldn't believe what's down here."

"What?" Blake asked in curiosity.

"A whole society. Remember in history class Oobleck told us about the war between humans and monsters?"

"You mean you actually paid attention in class?" Weiss asked sarcastically. Ruby gave her a dirty look.

"Yes. This is the same mountain. These are those monsters. They're so friendly, minus the flower that tried to kill me."

"You were almost killed, by a plant?" Yang asked in disbelief. Her face was like 'really bitch?'

"Yes. Anyways, if I'm gonna make any more progress down here I'm gonna have to keep moving. May I ask a favour though?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything."

"I need you to research this symbol for me." She stated, sending the picture to her sister. "Also, I don't know how much longer my scroll is going to have a signal, so this may be the last time we talk before I leave the underground. I will see you guys later. Yang, Jaune, I love you."

"Love ya too, sis." Yang replied, a tear present in her eye. Jaune walked forward and took the scroll from her.

"I love you too Ruby. Stay strong, will you?"

"I will." Ruby smiled, hanging up.

Yang flopped on the couch with an exhausted expression. Jaune looked less angry with the brawler, but is yet to be seen how long he can hold a grudge.

Yang was growing impatient. Ruby hasn't called since then, and Jaune keeps treating her like the bad guy. He hasn't spoken to Yang, or even done so much as smile since she returned. She was emotionally drained since the incident on the mountain. Finishing off her second strawberry sunrise she perked up at the sound of Weiss talking to someone.

"Ruby! I'm glad I can still get a hold of you!"

Yang walked over to the door and eaves dropped on the conversation. It wasn't anything exciting, or at least not until she heard a voice that she didn't recognize.

"Sans! Can you come here for a moment?"

"Sure, Sup Ruby?"

 _'_ _So this guy is named Sans, huh? I hope he's a comedian. That would be hilarious. God I'm drunk...'_ Yang thought to herself. She made a metal note to cut back on the booze.

"Weiss here believes that all monsters are murders. Please tell her otherwise."

"No. Not all of us. Just be careful of the small amount of us who do. And with the rate Ruby here is going, they will be on the good side soon enough."

After a short conversation Ruby hung up and Weiss made her way to the door.

"Ahem." Yang scoffed as the ice queen walked through the door.

"Yang?" The former heiress gasped, nearly falling backwards in shock. "What are you doing here? And are you drunk?" she scowled, sniffing the blonde.

"Yeah, I had two drinks, so?" Yang asked in anger. "How dare you talk to my sister without me?"

"It isn't a big deal. I was just assisting her with research she requested on a symbol she found. It isn't like you would care about the topic at hand." She crossed her arms then turned and walked away, her white hair flicking the blonde on the nose.

"Bitch..." Yang muttered as she walked away.

She wound up running (Literally) into Jaune as she made her way to her room. He shot her a dirty look as she gestured to help him back to his feet and smacked her artificial hand away. He got back to his feet and marched away. Yang felt tears burning in her eyes as she just quietly walked to her room.

"I hope Ruby comes home soon." She whispered as she flopped down on her bed. "I don't know how much longer I can put up with this..."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Waterfall part I

 **And we're back with Ruby. I'm sorry if anyone appears out of character. I'm making mean old Weiss come back because I like her old attitude. It's kind of more fun to write XD. Anyways, without further ado, let's bring in warrior fish lady and continue this story! I still don't own either franchise.**

Ruby and Chara were both in awe at the sight of Waterfall. Chara said something about it being almost 80 years since visiting Waterfall, but Ruby didn't pay much attention. She was using her semblance to speed boost before jumping into puddles.

 _"_ _I swear you are five years old..."_ Chara sighed in disappointment. Ruby simply giggled as she kept walking. She looked over to her right and saw that the monster who called her short was there.

"Yo! Are you sneaking out to see her too?" He asked in excitement.

"See... who..?" Ruby asked, both awkwardly and in sheer confusion.

"Undyne of course! The coolest monster in the underground! How have you never heard of her?!"

"I, uh, don't get around much..." Ruby replied awkwardly. Chara said that was a good save.

"Yo, that's alright! But I want to be just like her when I grow up!" He smiled triumphantly. If he had arms, she would assume they'd be on his hips. Though his smile went into an awkward, nervous grin. "Hey, don't tell my parents I'm here, alright? Haha."

"Um, sure..?" Ruby replied with an equally awkward smile. Just who the hell is this kid anyways? Shrugging it off she walked over to Sans, pausing to stare at a glowing blue flower. "Strange... I could have sworn it just talked."

 _"_ _It's an echo flower. It repeats the last thing it heard."_ Chara informed. Ruby perked up.

"That's so cool!" She beamed.

 _"_ _That's so cool!"_ The flower repeated. Ruby continued her walk to the skeleton.

"Hey Sans!" She greeted.

"Hey kid. What's with that look? Never see a guy with two jobs before?" He asked with slight offense.

"Uh... no it's just that... uh..." Ruby stuttered. The skeleton started laughing.

"I'm just messing with ya squirt."

"I'm like, a half foot taller than you..." Ruby replied with a huff. Sans ignored her.

"Anyways, I'm actually about to go on break, you wanna head over to Grillby's with me?"

 _"_ _Say no!"_ Chara demanded.

"Uh, yeah, sure, sounds great."

 _"_ _I swear you're a moron."_ Chara sighed. Ruby ignored them.

"Great. Follow me, I know a short cut." He pointed his thumb towards the path leading deeper into Waterfall. Confused on what Sans had planning, she followed him. Suddenly it felt like her entire body was being torn apart molecule by molecule and reforming in a different location. The pain was near unbearable. How did Sans do this so often? She noticed the feint image of Grillby's until all there was, was darkness.

"Smells like she's coming to." A familiar, scruffy voice spoke. Ruby slowly opened her eyes to being surrounded by Grillby's patrons. Looking to see who spoke, she noticed a concerned Dogamy at her side. Dogaressa looked equally as frightened. Lesser Dog and Greater Dog were simply whimpering. Doggo wasn't even looking in the right direction. Sans was on the other side of her, looking probably the most panicked out of all of them.

"What happened? Is she awake? I can't see, because she isn't moving." Doggo huffed.

"Ruby, I'm so sorry. I should have considered the fact that you've never teleported before. It can be pretty intense at first, and I didn't even warn you." Sans apologized frantically. He was definitely worried for the huntress' well being. Ruby also noticed what looked like tear stains on his skull

"It's okay. I'm okay." She reassured, trying to get to her feet. She was a little unsteady. A glass of water was urged in her direction. She looked at the man who handed it to her and noticed that he was completely made of fire, but the water seemed to be cold, because the ice cubes were still intact. She took the cup.

"Thank you Mr..."

"That's Grillby." Sans replied. "Thanks Grillbz, but I think she's going to be alright.

"How long was I passed out on the floor?"

"Two hours. Like I said, I'm super sorry..."

"No worries, like _I_ said, I'm okay."

Sans helped her walk. Instead of going to his normal seat on a stool at the counter, he had Ruby occupy a booth so she could rest a bit easier. He ordered the both of them fries, which arrived moments later.

"Out of curiosity..." he began, taking a sip from the ketchup bottle. Ruby tried her hardest not to gag. "What do you think of my brother?"

"He's... pretty cool." Ruby replied. Sans nodded.

"Of course he's cool. You would be too if you wore that every day. He'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to. Oh well. At least he washes it." He sighed. "And by that I mean he wears it in the shower." Both friends start laughing. Sans feels a bit more relaxed towards Ruby than he did before. He was just glad that this isn't a genocide run. Ruby is such a nice kid. "Anyways. Cool or not you have to agree that Papyrus tries really hard. Like how he keeps trying to be a part of the royal guard. One day he went to the house of the head of the royal guard and begged her to let him in it. Of course, she shut the door because it was midnight. But the next day she woke up to find him still there. Seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training. It's, uh, still a work in progress..."

"Wow. That's really-" Ruby began before Sans cut her off.

"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something." He began uncomfortably.

"Go ahead." Ruby assured. All humour was gone, and the lights dimmed. Ruby looked over to seeing Lesser Dog dimming the lights. She sighed and drew her attention back to Sans.

"Have you ever heard of a _talking flower_?"

"Um..." Ruby trailed off. This question was making her uncomfortable.

"Just say yes or no Ruby. It isn't a complex algorithm that converts soul energy into sustainable magic!" Sans sighed, clearly irritated.

"That's... oddly specific." Ruby pointed out. "And to answer your question, yes. I have heard of a talking flower."

"So you've heard of them. Echo flowers. They grow all over the marsh."

"Wait, you meant echo flowers?" Ruby asked in shock.

"Yeah..? Why? What do you think I meant?" Sans asked with a sly smile. Ruby was oddly fidgety about the question.

"It's just- I- never mind..." She sighed. Sans chuckled.

"Okay, if you say so. Anyways, the reason I bring this up, is because Papyrus told me something interesting the other day."

"Really? Like what?" Ruby asked, genuinely interested. Sans stared blankly at the table. Whatever he was about to talk about he takes extremely seriously.

"Sometimes, when no one else is around, a flower appears and whispers things to him. Flattery... advice... encouragement..." he hesitated to say the next part. "... predictions. Weird, huh? Someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him."

"Flowey..." Ruby whispered. Sans' head shot up.

"You know something about this, don't you?" He asked, scowling at the young teen.

"N-no! It's just a hunch! There was this flower that tried to kill me in the ruins. This sounds like something he'd do."

"Thanks for the tip Ruby. Keep an eye out, okay?" He requested; a calm smile on his face. Ruby smiled back and nodded.

"Thanks." He replied, checking his watch. (I don't care. Sans has a watch :p) "Whelp, that was a long break. I can't believe I let you pull me away from work that long." He sighed, standing up.

"Hey! You asked me to come along!" Ruby defended. The skeleton started laughing.

"I know; I'm just messing with ya. You run along now. Yo Grillbz! Put it on my tab!"

The fire man simply sighed. Ruby had a guess that Sans never pays his tab. She waved goodbye to the skeleton and headed back into Waterfall. Chara was staying strangely quiet. The reaper knew the ghost was still there because she could feel their presence.

"Chara, you doing okay?" She asked. The ghost simply shushed her. "Why did you-" Ruby cut herself off. She heard talking overhead. Quickly, she ducked into some tall grass.

"H-HELLO UNDYNE. I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT! REGARDING THE HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOOUT EARLIER..."

"Did you fight them?" A scratchy, yet distinctly female voice responded. Papyrus seemed terrified of this monster, and Ruby could understand why.

"D-DID I FIGHT THEM? OF COURSE! I FOUGHT QUITE VALIENTLY TOO!"

"Good! Now, did you _capture them?_ " She urged. Ruby did not like where this was going.

"N-NO... I TRIED VERY HARD UNDYNE... I _REALLY_ DID, BUT IN THE END, I FAILED."

"Ugh, FINE! I guess if you want something done right, you do it yourself." The armoured monster sighed. Ruby grew more nervous by the minute. This monster didn't seem friendly. How was she gonna engage in combat and not have to kill her.

"WH-WHAT? YOU'RE GONNA TAKE THE SOUL YOURSELF? BUT, UNDYNE, YOU DON'T HAVE TO DESTROY THEM. YOU SEE-" Ruby saw the armoured figure turn to the tall skeleton. Papyrus backed away in fear.

"I guess if you don't want to help capture the human, the royal guard isn't for you."

"NO... I UNDERSTAND! I'LL HELP IN ANY WAY I CAN!"

"Good! Glad you see it my way Paps!" Undyne praised, rubbing her knuckles on Papyrus' skull.

"GAH! DON'T NOOGIE THE SKELETON!" Papyrus pleaded angrily. The armoured monster could be heard laughing. Before she could say anymore, Papyrus had walked away. Carefully, assuming the path was clear, Ruby took a step to the right. Suddenly the armoured soldier was fully engaged, ready to strike. She spawned an energy spear out of thin air (a.k.a. magic) and was ready to throw it at Ruby. The reaper tried her damn hardest not to move. Finally Undyne was gone and the coast was clear.

"Yo did you see that?"

Ruby jumped and pulled out Crescent Rose. She was ready to attack out of sheer reflexes. Then she realized that it was just the kid from earlier.

"Oh it's you." she sighed in relief, folding the scythe back up and placing it back on the harness.

"The way she was staring at you was so... AWESOME!" The dinosaur looking monster cheered, jumping in the air. His eyes were lighted up with excitement, similar to how Ruby looks when she sees new and exciting weapons. "I'm so jealous! What did you do to get her attention? Haha. Come on; let's go watch her beat up bad guys!" He gestured with his tail for her to follow. Ruby hesitated, which made the young monster feel hurt. "What's the matter?"

"I- uh... don't really _want_ to meet Undyne, kid..."

"It's _Monster_ Kid thanks. But that's cool. See ya later!" He cheered, waving goodbye with his tail before running off. He fell over, but was back on his feet momentarily so Ruby wasn't worried. She walked over to the save point nearby.

 _"_ _A sense of dread hangs over you... but you stay determined."_ Chara narrated. Ruby smiled at the fact that her friend is talking again.

"Chara, how do I cross this?" Ruby asked. She tried walking across, but the water was too deep. She also tried using her semblance to jump across, she couldn't make the distance. Now she's soaking wet and out of ideas.

 _"_ _There are bridge seeds in the groove in the wall. Four in a row will make a bridge."_ The ghost explained. Ruby nodded and placed the seeds in the water. They formed a bridge and Ruby was clear to cross. The next room wasn't so easy. Ruby noticed a sign and used the bridge seeds to get to it.

 _"_ _Congratulations! You... failed the... puzzle..."_ Chara sighed. Ruby looked ready to scream.

"Aw! What's the point of the darn sign then!?" She yelled, pulling out her scythe and slicing the sign in half, panting with exhaustion.

 _"_ _You can reset the puzzle you know."_ Chara sighed. Ruby turned her head to see a bell and ran over to it. She rang the bell and the seed appeared right back where they were. The bridge she made was gone now too. Ruby took the seeds and made another bridge, this time being able to cross over to the next cave entrance. She was about to enter through the cave's mouth when her phone rang.

"RUBY! I BET YOU'RE WONDERING HOW I GOT YOUR NUMBER! WELL IT WAS VERY SIMPLE! I DIALED EVERY NUMBER SYSTEMATICALLY UNTIL I FOUND YOURS!" Chara was chuckling.

"Wow. I gotta admit Papyrus, you're pretty determined." Ruby praised; genuine approval in her voice.

"THANK YOU! NOW... WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?"

"I... uh... what?" Ruby was baffled. A slight blush on her cheek from embarrassment.

"I'M SORRY FOR THE BRASH QUESTION! I WAS ASKING FOR A FRIEND! SHE SAID SHE SAW YOU IN A RED HOODIE AND BLACK SKIRT! ARE YOU WEARING THESE THINGS?"

 _"_ _Lie dummy!"_ Chara demanded. Ruby didn't like the idea but agreed.

"No. I'm not wearing those things."

"SO YOU'RE _NOT_ WEARING A RED SWEATER AND BLACK SKIRT HMM..?" Papyrus asked with distinct sarcasm. "OKAY, I'LL TELL HER, WINK WINK."

Ruby was speechless. Did Papyrus see right through her lie, Papyrus of all people? This made Chara laugh even harder. Ignoring the ghost, Ruby moved on to the next room. Inside were various luminescent stones in the ceiling of the room, dubbed the "wishing room" thanks to a sign on the wall. Ruby was about to walk towards a telescope when Chara directed her towards a dead end.

"What are you doing?" she asked, staring at the wall of stone and dried dirt. Maybe there was something under the dirt? Like a switch or something?

 _"_ _Push on it!"_ Chara demanded. Ruby gulped and did just that, falling over as the wall gave way. She stood up and brushed the dirt off of herself. She quickly checked her scroll. No signal, oh well. If she needed to make a call she'll just simply return to Snowdin. She looked up and noticed a dock with some signs hanging above it. From what she could see, there was something titled 'The war of humans and monsters'.

 _"_ _Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear."_ The first sign read. _"_ _Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the soul of nearly every monster in the underground to equal one human soul. And their semblances surpass that of a monster's."_ Now intrigued, Ruby kept reading the other signs. _"_ _But humans have one weakness. Ironically it is the strength of their soul. Its power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death. If a monster defeats a human, they can take its soul. A monster with a human soul would be a horrible beast with an unfathomable amount of power."_

"Whoa...´Ruby gasped at the next sign. I was an illustration of a strange creature. It had goat ears and horns, but the rest didn't even look like they belonged to a normal living thing. It almost looked like a Grimm. She had to walk away because it made her feel really uncomfortable.

She crossed the river by a small moving platform on the water. Once she was across however, the platform returned to the other side. So turning back wasn't an option. She was walking until she heard a growl in her stomach.

"Mmm... I guess it has been a while since I ate." She thought out loud, pulling a package of cookies from her pocket before practically inhaling them all. Felling better, she kept walking.

A sudden feeling of dread loomed over the young huntress as she entered the next area. Almost like she was being watched. Fortunately that dreading fear didn't last long as it quickly became reality. An energy spear was thrown at her feet, alerting her of the soldier from before. Ruby didn't waste time. Using her semblance she ran as fast as she could from the warrior.

"I don't know why Chara, but I think this lady is as fast as I am. She's still on our tail!"

 _"_ _Watch out, dolt!"_ Chara scolded. Ruby quickly sidestepped, only being grazed by the spear. She was feeling exhausted. Her aura could only do so much, and she was reaching her limit. Completely exhausted, Ruby ran and hid in the tall grass nearby. Undyne trudged through the grass, looking for the escaped human. She drove her armoured hand into the long grass, only to pull up Monster Kid, holding him by the face. Realizing what she did, she gently placed the smiling child back down and turned and walked away. Ruby walked out of the grass, relieved that the ordeal had passed. She was clutching the wound on her arm. Undyne cut her worse than she originally thought.

"Yo did you see that?" Monster Kid asked excitedly. "Undyne just... TOUCHED ME! Yo, I'm never washing my face again haha! Boy did you miss out. If you had only been a tad to the right... but that's okay I'm sure we'll see her again." The kid seemed oblivious to the fact that Ruby was hurt. He just ran off.

 _"_ _Eat food dummy! Monster food helps this sort of thing!"_ Chara directed. Wincing, Ruby agreed and reached in her pocket, pulling out a cinnamon bunny. She ate it, feeling the pain go away. Her aura was restored, and the gash quickly began to heal. Being on the safe side, Ruby used a bandage she kept in her pocket at all times to wrap it up. She wasn't going to take it off until she got home.

"If I go home..." she muttered to herself. Feeling adventurous she decided to look around, using Chara as her little guide. Waterfall was beautiful, but creepy at the same time. It was a lot emptier than Snowdin, so the ominous shadows were even creepier, and she wasn't sure when Undyne was going to show her armoured face again. She found Sans soon afterwards.

"Hey Sans." She greeted with a smile.

"Sup? Hey, what happened to your arm?"

"It's nothing. I just got into a close encounter with this monster named Undyne. She was throwing spears at me and I got cut by one."

Sans didn't respond to that. He almost seemed like he felt guilty. Ruby felt the need to change the subject.

"So what's with this?" she asked, pointing to the telescope beside him.

"I've been thinking about going into the telescope business. It's usually 50000g, but since I know you go ahead and use it for free."

Ruby looked in the telescope, but all she saw was red. Looking away, she noticed that the skeleton appeared to be suppressing a laugh. Naturally curious, she walked over to the nearest puddle. There was a red ring around her eye. Sighing, she used the water to clean the paint off her face and waved goodbye to the skeleton. Waterfall was a very beautiful area to visit, and the human and ghost was having a pleasant time.

 ** _*RING RING*_**

Ruby pulled out her phone and answered it. She didn't even need to ask who it was. He let her know immediately.

"HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS! REMEMBER WHEN I ASKED YOU ABOUT CLOTHES?"

"Yes. Why?"

"WELL, THE PERSON WHO WANTED TO KNOW... HER OPINION ON YOU IS VERY... MURDERY. WELL, DON'T WORRY DEAR HUMAN! PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER BETRAY YOU! I AM NOT A CRUEL PERSON! I STRIVE TO BE COMFORTING AND PLEASANT!"

 _"_ _Get to the point bonehead..."_ Chara sighed. They knew Papyrus couldn't hear them but at that point they didn't care.

"PAPYRUS! HE SMELLS LIKE THE MOON!"

"Wait, what?" Ruby snickered, trying not to burst out laughing. "Papyrus, _what_ are you talking about?

"SO, BECAUSE OF MY INHERIT GOODNESS, I TOLD HER YOU WERE INDEED WEARING A RED HOODIE AND SKIRT EVEN THOUGH YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T!"

"Wait... WHAT?" Ruby screamed into the phone.

"I KNOW! IT PAINED ME TO TELL SUCH A BOLDFACED LIE!" Papyrus cried dramatically. Ruby sighed and facepalmed. To say she was pissed was a dire understatement. "BUT YOUR SAFETY IS MORE IMPORTANT TO ME THAN ANYTHING! DANG... I JUST WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE..." Then he hung up. Ruby kinda felt bad for getting mad at him. Chara however wasn't.

 _"_ _I say kill him the next time we meet up."_

"No Chara. His heart was in the right place."

 _"_ _Yeah. Too bad his brain wasn't."_

"Does he even have a brain? " Ruby thought out loud. "I mean, he is a skeleton, so..."

 _"_ _Is this_ really _important right now?"_ Chara sighed.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven: Waterfall part II

 _"_ _The power to take their souls, this is the power that the humans feared."_ Chara read aloud, looking at another sign explaining the legend between humans and monsters.

"So that's why they're trapped Underground." Ruby guessed.

"Hiiiiii~" A sing-songy voice cheered as Ruby walked down a hallway with water on each side. She looked over to see an onion looking octopus like thing with adorable grey eyes.

"Awww! You're so adorable!" Ruby squeed when she saw the monster.

"Gee thank you!" The aquatic monster cheered. "I'm Onionsan!" He greeted, extending a tentacle for ruby to shake.

"Hi Onionsan!" Ruby smiled, shaking the long limb. "I'm Ruby!"

"Hiya Ruby!" He smiled. "You're visiting Waterfall, huh? It's great here, huh? You love it here, huh?" He urged, hoping that Ruby was enjoying her visit.

"Yep." Ruby smiled, giving the monster a thumbs-up. There was something about this monster that made her uncomfortable, but she wasn't going to show it.

"Yeah! Me too! It's my big favorite!" he beamed, with a huge smile spread across his face. "Even though the water's getting so shallow here. I have to sit down all the time." He sighed. Ruby looked in the water, and he was right. She could see the rocks at the bottom of the water. It looks like it could go up to her shoulders at most.

"Aw, that's too bad Onionsan. I wish I could do something." She empathized, looking the monster in the eyes. Onionsan met her gaze and smiled.

"That's okay. Besides, this beats moving to the city, and living in a crowded aquarium."

"An aquarium? Isn't that almost degrading?" Ruby asked.

"Right!" Onionsan agreed. "But all my friends did." He stated, glancing to the side awkwardly. "And the aquarium's full anyways, so even if I wanted to..." Ruby felt like she was in a very awkward situation. She didn't know what to say or do, so she kept walking and listened. "That's okay though, y'hear! Undyne's gonna fix everything, y'hear!" Ruby jolted. Did that monster just say, _Undyne_? Oh god... "I'm gonna get out of here and live in the ocean y'hear!" Onionsan rambled on. Thankfully Ruby made it to the end of the room. "Hey... there... that there's the end of the room. I'll see you around. Have a good time in Waterfalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll." He gurgled as he sank back into the water. Not knowing what the heck just happened, Ruby kept walking.

She was thrown quickly into combat not long after entering the next room. The monster that appeared slightly resembled a mermaid. According to the ACT button, her name is Shyren. Seeing the option to hum, Ruby did so, humming her favorite song, Shine. Shyren started humming with her and music notes attacked Ruby. She dodged them and spared the monster. After the encounter ended, Ruby walked over to a sign.

 _"_ _The northern room hides a great treasure."_ Chara narrated. _"_ _No worries, I know the solution to this puzzle. But we'll get back to it, let's head right for now."_

Ruby walks down the hallway to see another sign.

"This power has no counter. Indeed, a human cannot steal a monster's soul." Ruby reads. Oh! This is a continuation of those other signs, isn't it?"

 _"_ _Yeah. It is…"_ Chara stated.

"When a monster dies its soul disappears and incredible power would be needed to take the soul of a living monster." Ruby walks to the next sign. However, there is one exception. The soul of a special species called a "Boss monster." A boss monster's soul is strong enough to persist after death, if only for a brief moment. A human could absorb a boss monster's soul, but this has never happened and now it never will."

 _"_ _Ominous."_ Chara commented. They sounded kind of scared. Ruby shuddered and made her way back to the northern room, which has a piano. _"_ _Here's what you do…"_

"Hey it worked!" Ruby cheered as the door in the wall opened.

 _"_ _See? I told you I knew what I was doing."_

"You screwed up about ten times." Ruby teased, walking into the room.

 _"_ _Hey, it's been almost eighty years cut me some slack!"_

"Okay okay." Ruby stopped when she saw an orb on the table. She went to grab it but…

 _"_ _You're carrying too many dogs."_ The orb said. Confused, Ruby reached into her pocket and found something soft and… breathing? She pulled out the dog and it jumped out of her arms, knocking her to the ground. The little dog jumped onto the table with the artifact, and absorbed it… somehow? Then it floated away?

"This place just keeps getting weirder…" Ruby whispered. She stood up and dusted herself off before she continued her way through the caverns.

She grabs an umbrella, hearing the sound of rain in the next room. When she walked in there however, she was surprised to see a familiar face.

"Yo! You got an umbrella?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Awesome! Can I tag along? I can't carry an umbrella."

"Sure, come on over Monster Kid."

The armless monster walked out of the small cave he was taking shelter in and hid under Ruby's umbrella.

"Great! Thanks! Let's go!" He cheered excitedly. Ruby nodded and they began their walk through the cavern.

"So…" Ruby begins, trying to break the silence. "Why do you like Undyne so much?"

"Man, Undyne is the _coolest_! She beats up all the bad guys, and _never_ loses! If I was a human, I would wet the bed every night knowing she was gonna beat me up, ha ha."

"Mm hmm…" Ruby replied, starting to regret their conversation. She guessed Monster Kid must have noticed something was off, because he changed the subject. "So… one time at school we had a project where we had to look after some flowers. The king- we had to call him "Mr. Dreemurr"- Volunteered to donate his flowers. He wound up coming to school and teaching the class about responsibility and stuff. That got me thinking… YO! How cool would it be if _Undyne_ came to school? She could beat up all the teachers!" Then the excitement on his face fell as he realized something. "Um… maybe she wouldn't beat up the teachers. She's too cool to ever hurt an innocent person."

Ruby hesitated before responding to her new friend. "Yeah… innocent person."

 _"_ _You okay?"_ Ruby just nods.

"Whoa! Yo, check this out!" Monster kid calls from up ahead. Ruby runs over to him and looks to where he's looking.

"Whoa… it's beautiful." Ruby gushes in awe.

"That's king Asgore's castle. The king of all monsters."

"Wow…" They just stood there and stared at it for a few moments before they once again resumed their walk. There is another umbrella cubby, so Ruby returns the umbrella she took from earlier. There was a ledge at the end of the room. Monster Kid was standing there, looking kind of perplexed.

"Yo! This ledge is too steep for us to climb. Yo, you wanna see Undyne right?"

"Um…"

"Here." Monster kid kneeled down to help her up. "Climb on my shoulders, I'll boost you up."

"Are you sure? I can help you up and figure something out."

"No, go ahead, it's fine."

"Okay… if you… say so." She climbed up onto his head and stepped on the platform.

"Yo, go on ahead! I'll find another way, I always do." He winked at her and walked away. He tripped but got himself back up before running off.

The next room was dark. Ruby saw another "save point", but decided to read a sign first.

"The humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly and without mercy. The only ones on our side were the Faunus.

 _"_ _The serene sound of a distant music box fills you with determination."_ Chara stated. Ruby groaned at them.

"It may have been a while, but I _so_ did not miss that narration."

 _"_ _Deal with it. You're stuck with me."_

Ruby ignored the voice and walked over to the next sign.

"In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the humans were too powerful, and the monsters, even with the assistance of Faunus, were too weak. Not a single soul was taken, and countless lives were lost."

The next part of the room was a long and twisted bridge. Ruby took a few steps, only to be surrounded with lights, which then shot up like spikes.

"Uh oh…" Ruby thought to herself.

"NYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! DIE YOU LITTLE BRAT!" A voice called from down below. That voice definitely sounded like Undyne. Ruby activated her semblance and quickly ran around the bridge. She almost fell off a few times, but she eventually found a long, wide platform, which she ran across, avoiding more and more spears as they shot up faster and faster. Exhausted, she reached a dead end. With no other option, she turned back, only to be face to face with the armoured monster. "This is the end of the line kid." The monster threatened. "Face death like a woman!"

"Not today!" Ruby retorted. She pulled out her scythe and sliced the bridge, falling. She could hear Undyne screaming in frustration, then, nothing.

 _"_ _It sounds like it came from over here…"_ A voice that is completely unfamiliar to Ruby called out. She tried to open her eyes and look, but she couldn't. It was all white. _"_ _Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you? Are you okay? Here, get up… what is your name? ... Chara, huh? That's a nice name. My name is A…"_

Ruby woke up quickly. She was holding her head in pain and confusion. "Ugh… what was that?"

 _"_ _Exactly. What was_ that _? Did you just decide "hey! I know! Instead of being murdered, I'll just fall to my death! That will be a greater way to GIVE THEM MY SOUL"?!"_ Chara scolded. Ruby winced.

"Can you please keep it down? I used _way_ too much energy. I can only handle short bursts of speed at a time. But that wasn't what I meant by "What was that". There was a voice in my head, it belonged to a boy, I believe. He said your name."

Chara gasped.

 _"_ _Hey, Ruby, did he say his name?"_

"All I got was "My name is A…""

 _"_ _Asriel…"_ Chara whispered. They sounded like they were about to start crying.

"Is this the same Asriel you mentioned in the ruins?"

 _"_ _Uh-huh. He was like a brother to me. He was murdered by humans soon after I died."_

"I'm so sorry."

 _"_ _Don't be. I'll see him again soon. When you leave the underground, I'll stay here in the mountains, while you get to go home to your family. But it's okay, because Asriel will be here with me."_

"Alright… if you're really okay…"

 _"_ _Just drop it Ruby. Can we get moving? Is reeks down here."_

"It really does." Ruby gags, pulling her cape over her nose. "Where are we?"

 _"_ _My guess, the dump."_

"Gross." Ruby groaned, standing up. She stumbled, but quickly unfolded Crescent Rose and leaned on it. "When I get home, I am doing a full maintenance check on this damn thing."

 _"_ _You made it?"_

"Yeah."

 _"_ _Neat. I guess you went to signal before Beacon then."_

"Yeah, I did. Though I loved going to Beacon, I can't help but wonder how different my life would be if I stayed at Signal."

 _"_ _There are some questions there are just no answers for."_

The two walk to a platform in the middle of the watery dump. There's a save point on it.

 _"_ _The waterfall seems to be flowing from the ceiling of the cavern. Occasionally, a piece of trash will flow through and fall into the bottomless abyss below. Viewing this endless cycle of worthless garbage fills you with determination."_

"I gotta admit; that was a good one."

 _"_ _Thanks, I try."_

"Hey, check it out." Ruby pointed at a training dummy amidst all the trash. Not wanting to hit it, she stared at it, and then walked away.

"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA! To intimidated to fight me, huh?! I am a ghost that lives inside a dummy! My cousin used to live inside a dummy too, until YOU came along!"

"Me?" Ruby asks in confusion. 'Who is his cousin? When did we meet? Wait…' "Do you mean that dummy in the ruins? What did I do wrong?"

"When you talked to them, they were in for a nice chat! But the things you SAID! Horrible! Shocking! UNBELIEVABLE! It spooked them right out of their dummy!"

"All I asked was if it was a nice day."

"LIAR! Human! I will spook the soul RIGHT OUT OF YOUR BODY!"

"Can we just talk about this?" Ruby pleaded as her soul flashed in front of her.

"NO! Futile, futile, FUTILE!" Mad Dummy deployed a bunch of mini dummies, which shot cotton at her. She dodged the cotton balls, and they hit Mad Dummy. "OW! You dummies! Watch where you're aiming your magic attacks!" He scolded. Suddenly, he stopped and looked away awkwardly. Ruby guessed he said something wrong. "Hey! You! forget I said anything about magic! I'll defeat you and take your soul!"

"Try me, you dummy!" Ruby stuck her tongue out at the dummy, making him even angrier.

"Why you little-" Mad Dummy scoffs, deploying more mini dummies. Again, Ruby makes them aim at the dummy. This made Mad Dummy Hopping Mad. "I'll take your soul and use it to cross the barrier!" Ruby then again dodges the attacks. Though she started doing it more gracefully, which made Mad Dummy even madder. He started hopping around, trying to keep Ruby from aiming at him. "I'll stand in the window of a fancy store!"

"Wait, what?"

"Nothing! Die!" He attacked her once again. Ruby didn't get hit, but she couldn't get Mad Dummy to get hit either. "Everything I could ever want will be mine! All I need is to get to the surface!" Ruby took his continued monologue as an opportunity. He attacked her, but he left himself vulnerable when he boasted, so Ruby stood in front of him, and quickly moved when the dummies attacked. He seemed kind of unfazed at this point. "Huh… I guess that will avenge my cousin."

"Will it though?" Ruby asked. The Mad Dummy looked at her in shock and (surprise surprise) anger.

"What do you know? You did that to him! Shut up and just DIE ALREADY!"

Bomber dummies were on either side of Ruby, leaving a small gap for her to squeeze between. More cotton shooting dummies showed up and Ruby yet again had them shoot at Mad Dummy.

"What was their name again…?" Mad Dummy mumbled to himself.

"Wait… You don't even know their NAME?" Ruby asked in disbelief. This got the dummy annoyed.

"Shut up! This doesn't involve you!"

"I'm feeling _pretty_ involved."

"Well you're not, so could you kindly just DIE?" he attacked Ruby, who was bombarded with bomber dummies. Cotton dummies were firing at her, and she narrowly missed getting hit. They also missed Mad Dummy. "Whatever! Whatever! WHATEVER!" more bomber dummies, more cotton dummies, direct hit on behalf of the Mad Dummy. Ruby wasn't paying attention, and got hit by a cotton ball, which hurt a lot more than they look.

"Ugh…" Ruby groaned, checking her scroll. "25%... ouch." (5hp)

"Pitiful! Pitiful! PITIFUL! You got hit once and you're already down?"

"Hey, you may be incorporeal, but I'm not!"

"Whatever! If damaging you is this easy, KILLING you should be no sweat!"

Ruby stood up to dodge the next line of bomber dummies, but she wasn't able to aim the cotton dummies properly. She was in too much pain.

"Foolish, foolish, FOOLISH!"

"Will you just shut up already! It's hard to concentrate with your constant bitching!" Ruby screams before gasping and covering her mouth. "Sorry, I didn't mean that!" Mad Dummy didn't listen, he was busy bombarding the poor girl with bomber dummies. The cotton dummies appeared, and this time Ruby could aim them at their boss. This seems to push him over the edge.

"HEY GUYS!" He bellowed, causing all of the dummies to surround Ruby. Ruby was prepared for the worst, but it didn't occur. "Dummies, dummies, DUMMIES! Remember how I said _not_ to shoot at me? Well… FAILURES! YOU'RE ALL FIRED! YOU'RE ALL BEING REPLACED! Hahahahahaha! Now, human, you can witness my true power! Not relying on total idiots!" Ruby looked around the room. The sounds of robots were present. She focused on the water, noticing that small robot dummies were emerging from under the water, while the discarded dummies sunk their way back down. "Like them? I made them from discarded parts of a robot that fell down here. It kind of resembled a human girl. Creepy right?"

"Penny…" Ruby whispered, tears forming in her eyes.

"I don't know what this "Penny" is, but it doesn't matter! Dummy-bots, MAGIC MISSILE!"

The dummy-bots morphed into homing missiles. They appeared to be attracted to Ruby's aura, so she started running in circles to lead the missiles around until they ran out of energy and drifted off. Luckily, there were some that hit Mad Dummy as well.

"Dirty bots! TRY AGAIN!"

Ruby was taken by surprise at all of the missiles aiming at her. She wasn't able to avoid them, and she got hit by half of them. She was in a lot of pain, so she decided to eat a cinnamon bunny.

"Dummy-bots! You're awful?"

"You aren't doing much either…" Ruby muttered to herself. Mad Dummy fired loads of missiles at her. Ruby was able to focus and aim the missiles at the dummy.

"Dummy-bots! Final attack!"

"Uh oh…" Ruby muttered, looking around at all of the dummies around her. There were the bomber dummies from earlier, with the occasional dummy-bot, which is difficult to dodge when avoiding bomber dummies that are surrounding you. she managed to get one to hit him, but she was bombarded by so many more, that she was in too much pain afterwards to deal with it.

"(Oh man… these guys are even worse than the last ones…) Who cares? Who cares? WHO CARES?! I don't need friends! I've got KNIVES!" He pulls out a knife and throws it at Ruby, who, caught by surprise, narrowly dodged it. "I'm… all out of knives. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU CAN'T HURT ME AND I CAN'T HURT YOU! YOU'LL BE STUCK FIGHTING ME FOREVER! AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA!" Suddenly it started raining, but only on him. "What the heck? Ergh! Acid rain! Oh, FORGET IT! I'm out of here." The mad dummy shuffled away and Ruby was left to see who her saviour was.

"Napstablook?" Yes, indeed the one who saved our dear heroine was none other than Blooky himself.

"Hi Ruby… I'm sorry, I interrupted you, didn't I? as soon as I came over, your friend immediately left. Oh no… you guys looked like you were having fun. Oh no… I just wanted to say hi… Oh no…"

"Blooky, it's okay. You saved my life!"

"I did?" The ghost sounded happy, though Ruby may have been mistaken.

"Yeah. That ghost-possessed-training-dummy attacked me. Thank you Blooky."

"Uh, you're welcome, I guess. Hey, my house is up ahead if you wanna go check it out… if you're not too busy?"

"Sure, I'll come with. No problem." Ruby smiled, stepping out of the waist-deep puddle she was standing in.

On the way to Napstablook's house was a save point, so Ruby decided that this was probably a good time to save.

 _"_ _You feel a calming tranquility. You're filled with determination!"_

"Oh! They thus speaketh! Where were you during the fight?"

 _"_ _I thought you would appreciate concentration while fighting that thing!"_

"You didn't even ask if I was okay! What kind of a friend are you?"

 _"_ _One who knows when a good time to keep quiet is at least I didn't call a monster that is ATTACKING ME WITH BOMBS out for acting all "bitchy"!"_

"Uh… if you're done arguing with yourself Ruby… my house is this way… though it could wait for you to finish arguing with the voice in your head…"

"No, it's fine Blooky I just- Wait, you can hear them?"

"Yeah. They're a ghost, why wouldn't I be able to hear them?"

"Never mind, let's go…"

"This is my house…"

"Wow, it's… nice. Definitely not what I expected."

"Thanks…" Napstablook blushed. Ruby smiled and looked around.

"What's with all the sound equipment Blooky? Are you into music?"

"yeah… I create my own music. I have a few samples over there if you want to listen. They were creepy and distorted, which led to Ruby not listening for very long.

"They're really… you!" She plastered a fake smile on her face, trying to find something nice to say.

 _"_ _I liked them."_ Chara chipped in. Napstablook smiled.

"Thank you both. I have a family tradition of lying on the ground and feeling like garbage, wanna join?"

"Uh… sure." Ruby smiled as she walked beside Napstablook and lied down on the floor. Miraculously, the entire room transitioned into a galaxy. "Whoa!" Ruby sat up, holding her head.

"Are you okay…?" Napstablook asked in concern.

"Yeah, just… dizzy…" She pulled out a water bottle and drank from it. Feeling much better, she stood up. "Sorry Blooky, I gotta go."

"That's okay… bye Ruby! Bye Chara!"

 _"_ _Bye Napstablook!"_

"I need to talk to you…" Ruby began her lecture while they left their friend's house. "Did you know he was coming?"

 _"_ _What are you talking about?"_

"You seem to have known he was coming. I was surprised he could hear you, but you weren't."

 _"_ _Okay… I might have left you during the fight to go get him…"_

"Why didn't you tell me?"

 _"_ _I thought the big tough huntress would have been ashamed of being rescued by a monster!"_

"Are you kidding? I was thankful for him showing up! And what's that supposed to mean" are you saying that just because I'm a huntress, I refuse any help from anyone? Or do you think that I'm racist? I'll have you have a Faunus on my team! I treat her like family!"

 _"_ _Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Though you did really good for a fight you couldn't win."_

"Thanks, I guess… Hey look, a shop!"

Ruby walked up to the mouth of a small cave. Inside was an elderly turtle and a delta rune symbol.

"Whoa there young lady! I got some neat junk for sale."

"Hello sir! What do you have for sale here at your establishment?"

"Bahaha! No need to be so formal, girly! Name's Gertrand! Nice to meet ya!"

"Ah, sorry Gertrand." Ruby replied awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. "What do you have for sale?"

"Let's see 'ere! I got glasses, a notebook, sea tea, and crab apples. The tea and apples heal, the notebook is a weapon, and the glasses are armour."

"I'll take two crab apples and a sea tea."

"Here ya go kid!" Gertrand smiles, handing Ruby the items. "That'll be 68g." Ruby handed the old man the money and looked at the delta rune behind him.

"What is that emblem behind you Gertrand?"

"Eh? You don't know what that is? That's the delta rune, the emblem of our kingdom. The emblem, of monsters. Great name right? It's like I always say: Ol' king Fluffybuns can't name for beans!" The old turtle just began laughing to himself.

"Ol' king… what?"

"Oh, That's a great story… I can't remember it, but it's a great story. Anyways, back to the symbol. It predates history. Though the original meaning is lost to time, all we know is the triangles symbolize the three races, and the wings represent… something else. Most people say it's the angel from the prophesy. Legend has it that an angel who has seen the surface will descend from above and grant us freedom. Lately, people have been taking a bleaker outlook… Calling the winged circle angel "Death". A harbinger of destruction trying to "free" us from this mortal realm. In my opinion, when I see that winged circle, I just think it looks neat! Wahaha!"

"What about the king?"

"King Fluffybuns? He's a friendly, happy-go-lucky kind of guy. If you keep walking around, you'll probably meet him at some point. He loves to walk around and talk to people."

"And Undyne? What can you tell me about her?"

"Huh? Undyne? Yeah, she's a local hero around here. Through grit and determination alone, she's already at the head of the royal guard. Actually, she just came through here asking for someone who looked just like you." He stated, scanning her head to toe. "I'd watch your back kid, and buy some items, it might just save your life."

"Thank you sir- sorry, Gertrand. I'll keep that in mind."

"Good luck girly! What's yer name anywho?"

"Ruby."

"Good luck Ruby! Be sure to come back if you're still alive!"

Ruby waved good bye to the elderly turtle and made her way to a sign. It appeared to be a continuation of the story from before.

"Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives we surrendered to the humans. Seven of their greatest huntsman combined their most powerful dust to create a magical barrier and seal us underground, while the Faunus were seized and dragged off. Anything can enter the barrier, but only someone with a powerful soul can leave. There is only one way to reverse the spell. If a huge power, equivalent to that of seven human souls, attacks the barrier, it will be destroyed." Ruby read. "Wow… that's kind of cool. But at the same time, sad. That was when monsters were thrown in here, and Faunus were sent to Menagerie so they wouldn't cause trouble. The war between humans and Faunus, and humans and monsters, were the same war."

 _"_ _Yeah. Faunus fought alongside monsters because the monsters were treated the same way Faunus were."_

"Yeah…" Ruby walked through a short stream to the next sign. "But this cursed place has no entrances or exits. There is no way a human could come here. We will remain trapped here forever." Ruby started chuckling at that. She felt horrible, but she did.

 _"_ _What is WRONG with you?"_

"Sorry Chara. It's just- It's just ironic that they say that, and a human is reading the sign."

 _"_ _You are the most horrible person alive."_

"You'd think differently if you ever saw my sister just when you ask her to open a pickle jar."

 _"_ _Wha- What about the people responsible for destroying your school, or killing your friend?"_

"Chara, I think it's best if you stop talking."

 _"_ _Right… sorry."_

"Whoa…" Ruby gasps as she views the next area for the first time. "It's so pretty…"

 _"_ _Ah, this area. I must warn you… if you value your brain cells, avoid Temmie at all costs."_

"Avoid what at all costs?"

"HoI!" A strange cat… dog… thing… smiled at Ruby.

 _"_ _That. That's Temmie."_

"Aw… she's so cute! Hi there Temmie!"

"HoI! I'm tEmMiE! NiCe MeEt YoU, yaya?"

"Yes. It is nice to meet you too." Ruby smiles, before being thrown in battle.

"Are you hungry Temmie?" Ruby asks, pulling out a nice cream from her pocket.

"No! TeMmIe OnLy EaT tEm FlAkE!"

"Sorry… uh…" Ruby trailed off, looking at the other options. She sees flex as an option, so she starts flexing her muscles.

"No! FlEx No CuTe!" Temmie runs away sadly, but Ruby is encountered by some sort of super built mermaid horse.

"I saw you flexing, wanna have a contest?" Aaron asks, flexing and winking at Ruby. Ruby scoffs.

"Sure!" Ruby agrees, forcing a smile on her face. You could tell she was annoyed. "You… first!"

Aaron flexes as hard as he can and winds up flexing himself out of the room, ending the encounter.

"I have no idea what just happened, but hey! He's gone!" ruby sighs as she touches the mushroom in front of her. The path lit up, and she followed it to a few more mushrooms, up until she finished revealing the path. As soon as the path was revealed, she walked her way around and followed it to the next room. The crystals in the ground were flashing, and then everything went dark. "I believe this puzzle is time sensitive."

 _"_ _Gee… I wonder what tipped you off…"_ Chara replied sarcastically. Ruby rolled her eyes and touched the lamp. The crystals lit up. Taking an opportunity, Ruby activated her semblance and navigated the room.

"That was easier than I thought it would be."

 _"_ _Because you keep cheating and running through the puzzles. There will be times where you just can't run through your problems."_

"Relax, will ya? I'll be fine."

 _"_ _Are you though? You must be exhausted. It's been two days since you got any half-way decent sleep."_

"Has it really been that long since I left the ruins? It feels like shorter."

 _"_ _Call Papyrus. Have Sans come and get you. You need sleep."_

"Okay fine, I will! After I finish navigating Waterfall!"

"Am I interrupting something?" A voice spoke in the darkness. Ruby quickly turned around and spotted Undyne standing there awkwardly. "Too bad… I had a cool and dramatic entrance planned, and it was gonna be _so_ epic! Oh well!" The warrior summoned her spear and aimed it at Ruby, prepared to finish off the young huntress before she could proceed any further. "Ahem… Seven… Seven human souls! With the power of these souls our king, King Asgore Dreemurr, will become a god. With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the barrier. With that power… we can finally go home. Understand, human? This is your only chance at redemption. Give up your soul, or I'll tear it from your body!"

"Wait! Don't you understand? Down here is safer! Out there, there are Grimm destroying villages and killing people every single day. There are no Grimm down here. There are no lives taken just for feeling fear. I know being stuck underground, without sunlight or moonlight, is depressing, and isolated, but at least your safe! Any Grimm that may have been down here were wiped out decades ago. I have two friends who-"

"I'll ask you this one more time human. Die willingly, or be killed in bloody murder?" Undyne interrupts, not listening to Ruby's rant.

"I'm sorry, my answer is no." Ruby replies, reaching for crescent rose and extending it into it's scythe form.

"Then you have no chance. Die human!" Undyne screams, about to throw a spear at Ruby until…

"Yo! Undyne! I'll help you fight!" Monster Kid cried out, running between the two. Undyne managed to stop only mere inches away from MK's face. The child seemed unfazed by his near death experience and looked at Ruby. "Yo! You did it! You managed to get front row seats to Undyne's fight! Uh…" He trailed off, glancing around the area. "Who's she fighting, anyways?"

Undyne sighs and grabs Monster Kid by his cheek. "Come on kid, we need to talk."

"H-Hey! You aren't gonna tell my parents are you?"

Ruby shakes off the encounter and backtracks until she finds a path going north. The path was a stream of water filled with echo flowers. Ruby could hear the echoes of a conversation coming from the bright blue plants. There is another sign with more of the story from before on it.

"However, there is a prophesy. The angel, the one who has seen the surface, they will return, and the underground will go empty."

 _"_ _Ominous."_

"Yeah… it gave me chills."

 _"_ _That may be the bridge right over there."_ Chara giggles.

"Bridge? What bridge?" Ruby asked, looking over to her right. Sure enough, there was a bridge there. "Oh. That bridge." Chara was laughing her ass off, while Ruby just rolled her eyes and walked over to the bridge. She crossed it slowly because it didn't look really all that stable. Thankfully it was, because that could have been bad.

"Yo!" Ruby jumped at the sudden voice, thankful that it was only monster kid.

"Hey Monster Kid!"

"Yo, I know I'm not supposed to be here, but I just gotta know the truth. Are you a human?"

"Yes. Yes Monster Kid, I am a human."

"I thought so… Undyne told me to… stay away from you. so, I guess that makes us enemies or something…"

"We don't have to be!" Ruby spoke up. Monster Kid shook his head.

"Sorry, Ruby. But if Undyne says I can't talk to you, then I can't talk to you… but I kind of stink at trash talk. Say something mean so I can hate you!"

"I'm sorry. I can't do that."

"What? Come on, so I have to do it? Man… here it goes. I… I hate your guts!" He yelled, though it was obvious he didn't mean it. "Man… I'm such a turd. I'm gonna go home now…" Monster kid turned to leave, but tripped and fell over the side, catching the bridge side with his teeth. "W-w-wait! Help! I tripped!" He cried, though he was muffled by the wood in his mouth. Undyne was standing there, ready to attack, but Ruby didn't care. She quickly ran forward and grabbed MK and pulled him up.

"It's okay, you're okay… you're safe."

Without another word, Monster Kid placed himself between Ruby and Undyne. Though she was wearing a helmet, you could tell that Undyne was not happy.

"Y… y… yo… dude… If… you wanna... hurt my friend, you'll have to get through me first!"

Undyne stood there for a moment, stunned. Then she proceeded to slowly back away and leave.

"Yo… You really saved my hide Ruby. I guess no matter what we do, we're just not meant to be enemies. How about we just be friends instead?"

"Sure. That sounds great MK!" Ruby smiled. Monster Kid looked excided.

"Ooh! Is that my super cool BFF nickname? Man, how can I top that? How about… Rubes?"

"I like it." Ruby chuckles. Monster kid does too until he recoils in shock.

"Darn it, what's the time!" He cries, checking the time on his watch (Which is fixated to his tail). "Jeez! That late? Sorry Rubes, I gotta get going or my mom is gonna kill me!"

"Bye MK!" Ruby waves at the monster, then continues her way.

 _"_ _Uh oh…"_

""Uh oh"? What do you mean "Uh oh"?"

"Seven… Seven Human souls and Asgore will become a god. Six. That's how many we have collected thus far. Understand?" A voice asks from above.

"Oh, that "Uh oh…"" Ruby muttered. "Uh, hi Undyne! What's up? Anything new? Is that a new helmet?" Ruby asked cheekily. This made the warrior angry.

"Oh, you think you're being…" Undyne throws a spear at her, nearly missing her to emphasize the last word. " _cute_?"

"Lady, I'm adorable!"

"Shut up and let me have my heroic speech."

"Proceed. No one's stopping you."

"Ugh! Through your seventh and final soul, this world will be transformed. First, however, for it is customary for those who have made it thus far, I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people… it all started, long ago… No, you know what? SCREW IT! You have been a right royal pain in my ass since the moment you stepped foot in Waterfall, so why in the entire world of Remnant should I tell you that story, WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!? NGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" she screamed, ripping off her helmet and throwing it away, revealing her face. Undyne is a fish monster with an eye patch worn on her left eye and scars on her gills. She seems more… mundane than one would expect, but still intimidating. "You! You're standing in the way of everyone's hopes and dreams! Alphys' history books made me think humans are cool, with their giant robots and flowery swordswomen…"

"Wait, their what?"

"BUT YOU? You're just a coward hiding from me behind that kid, just so you could run away again. And let's not forget the wimpy goody-two-shoes schtick. Ooh! I'm making such a difference by hugging random strangers! You wanna know what would be more valuable to everybody?"

"Does it involve death?"

"IF YOU WERE DEAD! That's right human. You're very existence is a crime. Your life is all that stands between us and our freedom. Right now, I can feel everyone's hearts pounding together. Everyone's been waiting their whole lives for this moment. But we're not nervous at all. When everyone puts their hearts together, they can't lose. Now human. Let us end this right here, right now. I'll show you how determined monsters can be! Step forward, when you're ready."

Ruby looked behind her to see a save point had appeared. She walked over to it and touched it.

 _"_ _The wind is howling, you're filled with determination."_

"Okay, let's take on Undyne."

 _"_ _NO! Ruby, you're too tired. Call Papyrus, and you can take on Undyne when you're well rested."_

"No… I'm… fine…" Ruby replied groggily before falling over and slipping into unconsciousness.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight: Time to take a break.

 **This is just a filler chapter between Waterfall and Hotland, and yes, the Undyne fight will be in the Hotland chapter. Ruby has been through too much and I think she deserves a bit of a break. Besides, I just wanted an excuse to bring back the skelebros. This is definitely gonna be short.**

 _"_ _I BELIEVE THAT MISS RUBY IS COMING TO HER SENSES BROTHER!"_

 _"_ _Oh thank god! Ruby? Ruby it's Sans, are you okay?_ Are you okay? _"_

"Ugh… Sans? Where am I?"

"You're back in Snowdin. I caught wind of you facing Undyne soon from Papyrus, and I kind of had been keeping my eye on you since then. I saw you have a conversation with her, then pass out. Are you okay?"

"Yeah… I think I was just sleep deprived. I haven't really slept since before I left the ruins. How long was I out for?"

"Uh…" Sans trailed off, looking at his watch. "About 18 hours. You must really have needed sleep."

"ARE YOU HUNGRY HUMAN? I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL PREPARE A MEAL FIT FOR A KING!"

"Is it spaghetti?"

"WHY, YES IT IS! HOW COULD YOU TELL?"

"The box of spaghetti in your hand." Ruby pointed out laughing. Sans started laughing too.

"I guess Ruby really _pasta_ test!"

"SANS, THAT ONE WAS A STRETCH AND YOU KNOW IT."

"You know puns aren't easy to think up Paps. You really gotta use the old _noodle_!"

"SANS, I WILL THROW THIS BOX AT YOUR HEAD!"

"Try it Paps. Remember the last time?"

"IT TOOK THREE MONTHS TO REPAIR DAMAGE SANS, DON'T YOU DARE!"

"Papyrus…" Ruby spoke up, struggling to sit up. Sans helped her, not wanting her to strain herself. "I'm sorry if this offends you, but I don't like spaghetti."

"WHAT? NOT LIKE SPAGHETTI? HOW COULD ANY LIVING BEING NOT LIKE SPAGHETTI?"

"I just don't… Sorry."

"OH, NO WORRIES! BY THE WAY, I REPAIRED YOUR SWEATER. IT HAD A TEAR IN IT. IT'S ON THE TABLE BY THE BASE OF THE STAIRS."

"Thanks Paps." Ruby smiled. Sans stood up and made his way to the door, putting his blue hoodie on.

"Yo, Ruby. I'm heading to Grillby's. Want anything?"

"Sure… uh, I'll come with you." She stood up to go get her sweater, but wound up stumbling back over. Papyrus ran over to make sure she was okay.

"MAYBE YOU SHOULD STAY HERE, HUMAN. YOU ARE STILL NOT WELL ENOUGH TO GO ANYWHERE!"

"I-I guess not… I probably got sick from all the time I spent in water."

"I'll bring you something kiddo. Fries, right?" Sans asked, putting on his slippers and opening the door. Ruby nodded and Sans smiled. "Get some rest. I'll wake you up when I'm back."

"But I just-"

*click* Sans was gone.

"SANS IS RIGHT RUBY. SLEEP WILL DO WONDERS FOR YOU RIGHT NOW."

"Alright. Goodnight Paps."

"GOODNIGHT RUBY."

"Hey… kiddo, I'm back. Come on, the fries are getting cold."

Ruby woke up from her nap and stretched. She looked over to see Sans standing there with a thing of fries and some water. His hood is covered in snow, and he seems to be shivering.

"Cold?" Ruby asks sarcastically. Sans gives her a dirty look and laughs.

"You have no idea. Though you'd think I'd either not feel it or be used to it. The snow out there is bad. I, uh, also slipped on ice that I didn't see and fell in the snow."

"WHAT?" Papyrus cried out in alarm, running into the room. He proceeded to scour Sans down head-to-toe for any signs of injury. "WHERE DID YOU FALL? WHAT DID YOU HIT? DID YOU BREAK ANYTHING?"

"Paps, if I broke something, you would know."

"I KNOW, BUT… YOUR HANDICAP…"

"There you go again, calling it a handicap. I'm not disabled Paps. I'm fragile, but not disabled."

"Um… what's going on…?" Ruby asked, breaking the siblings' argument.

"Nothing Ruby. I just have a weaker aura than literally anybody. Paps calls it a handicap, but it's not. I just have to be super careful."

"That sounds awful."

"Eh. I've learned to manage it. Though for the weakest being in existence, I have a really powerful semblance that Papyrus never lets me use."

"YOUR BLASTERS ARE TOO DANGEROUS! THEY COULD KILL YOU!"

"No they couldn't! they don't affect me at all!"

"Right… well… I'm just gonna… go…" Ruby gets up to leave, but Sans stops her.

"Wait, I'll take you. I don't want you to do that entire trip again."

"BE CAREFUL SANS!" Papyrus called before the two teleported away. He looked over at the table. Ruby left her sweater. He sighed and went to put it away upstairs.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine: Hotland part I- Hotland

 **For those of you who are confused, part II is The Core. This chapter contains the fight with Undyne and the hang out with Undyne.**

"Okay, I'm teleporting you this far. No closer." Sans informed Ruby as they appeared on the bridge.

"That's more than I could have asked for. Thanks Sans."

"No problem kiddo. Just don't get hurt will ya? I'm not dragging your unconscious butt back to my house again." Sans warned, though flashing a toothy grin to know he's only kidding. Ruby started laughing and nodded.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Bye Sans."

"Good luck kiddo."

Ruby walked across the bridge and stood in front of Undyne.

"I'm ready for ya Undyne! I'm rested and feeling better! Give me everything you have!"

"That's it then!" Undyne yelled from on top of the cliff. "No more running away! HERE I COME!" Undyne jumped off the cliff, spear in hand, and skewered it into the ground to break her fall. She stood on it, and spawned another one to give to Ruby. "I know you have your scythe, but it would never withstand my spears. I like a fair fight, which is why I didn't kill you when you collapsed. I was waiting for you to die on your own, but then Sans showed up."

"Uh… Thanks, I guess…"

"En guard!" Undyne yelled, slashing at Ruby. It didn't do damage, it just changed her soul colour to...

"My soul is green?"

"Yeah you little punk! You can't move your body when your soul is green, and the only option you'll have against my spears is to block with that one in your hand!"

 _"_ _God… can she get any louder? I'm a ghost and I have a headache."_

Ruby had no time to answer the ghost because there were spears flying at her. She took the spear Undyne gave her and blocked the attacks, which disappeared on contact.

"That's actually pretty useful…" She muttered to herself. "Undyne! I don't want to fight you!" She pleaded, but the warrior wasn't listening to her.

"Not bad. But can you dodge this?!"

There were more spears, in different directions this time. Ruby managed to block all of them, but the last one was a close call.

"You call that "Hard to dodge"?" Ruby taunted. Undyne grew angrier.

 _"_ _Ruby! You idiot, don't taunt her!"_

"For years we have dreamed of a happy ending! For years we have wanted peace and equality! And with your death, we _will_ get what we deserve!" The spears flew at Ruby faster than before. Ruby could still block, but it was a closer call than before. "Sunlight is just within our reach, if you die _now_!" More and more spears flew at Ruby. And with that, Ruby struggled to dodge more and more. "I won't let you snatch it away from us human! Just like you snatched it away before! You humans are the problem! But if you die now, you can also be the solution!"

"But you're going at it the wrong way! You're murdering innocent humans who fall down here! Innocent humans who just want to go home!"

"Liar! There are no innocent humans! I know how your aura works! So does the king! He used his magic to enchant the underground! Now instead of having that force field that was an unfair advantage, your aura works the same as a monster's! if your aura goes down, you die!"

"That's why I kept getting hurt."

 _"_ _And why Asriel died to the humans."_

"All you humans are scum beneath my feet. So be a good little girl and just DIE ALREADY! NGYAH! I'm done warming up!"

Ruby anxiously blocked the spears flying at her. She knew Undyne wasn't gonna give up until she died. So she just has to prevent such a thing from happening. She made it this far, and she didn't plan on stopping there. But the next spears moved even faster when she attacked, and Ruby couldn't stop them. She got hurt, bad, and her aura went down 40%

"Ugh… not my best run…"

 _"_ _Speaking of run… your soul is red now, get out of there!"_

"Right!" Ruby fled the encounter and ran as fast as she could despite how much pain she was in. Undyne caught up to her quickly and threw her back into the fight.

"You're not getting away from me _this_ time! Honestly I'm doing you a favour kid. The sooner you die, the less pain you'll be in, and I know you're in pain."

Ruby ate a nice cream and felt her aura go back up. She read the label. "Have a nice day!" she smiled at it and started laughing. "Who's in pain? It sure as heck isn't me."

"Agh! You brat! Just sit there like a good girl and take the damn hit!"

Ruby avoided more spears, waiting patiently for her soul to return to normal.

"No one has ever made it past Asgore! Honestly, killing you is an act of mercy, kid."

"Killing is literally the complete OPPOSITE of mercy!" Ruby cried out as she blocked more spears. Undyne launched a spear at her and her soul turned red, allowing Ruby to run off again.

"Ugh… not this again! Hey! Get your ass back over here!"

 _"_ _We're on our way to Hotland! She's a fish, I'm not sure she could handle the weather!"_

"What do you expect me to do? Go _Uh, Undyne, we're heading to Hotland, will you be okay to keep running_?"

"I'll be fine you little brat!" Undyne yelled in response, grabbing Ruby's cape and forcing her into combat. "You've run away from me for the last time!"

"No, I'm sure there'll be more times where I run away." Ruby smiled. Undyne growled at her and threw more spears.

"Alphys told me you humans were determined. I just think you're a pain in the ass!" A spear flying at Ruby suddenly flipped behind her and stabbed into her back.

"Agh!" the strike only took off 15% (3hp), but it hurt like it took off 50% (10hp). Ruby caught her breath and focused back in on the fight.

"I now see what she meant by that. But I'm determined too!"

A lot of spears kept changing direction. But luckily, Ruby figured out the pattern and blocked them.

"I'm determined to end this RIGHT NOW!"

More spears were thrown, and more spears were blocked.

"Right…. now!"

More fighting, more blocking.

"Right… now…."

More fighting, more blocking. Undyne is beginning to tire.

"Ha… ha….."

"Undyne, please… I just want to go home to my-"

"NGYAH! DIE ALREADY, YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

"Undyne, PLEASE!"

Undyne turns her soul red and she runs as fast as she can.

"Stop running away!" Undyne yelled, throwing a spear and skewering it into Ruby's cape. She didn't turn her soul green, so Ruby was able to unhook it and continue running. Suddenly, Ruby's phone went off.

"Hello?"

"HEY RUBY! WHAT'S UP?"

"Oh nothing much. Running for my life from a warrior fish lady. Y'know, the usual."

"THAT SOUDS SUPER EXCITING! I WAS JUST THINKING…"

 _"_ _That's a dangerous thing."_ Chara scoffed.

"YOU, ME, AND UNDYNE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT SOMETIME! I THINK YOU WOULD MAKE GREAT PALS! LET'S ALL MEET UP AT HER HOUSE LATER, OKAY?"

"Yeah, wow, that sounds great!" Ruby hung up the phone and looked at Undyne. "Really? You just _waited_ for me?" The monster just shrugged. Ruby sighed and continued running. She ran past Sans, who was fast asleep at his sentry station. "Sans, you being awake would be _super_ helpful right now!"

"What? Hey! Skeleton! Wake up right now!"

Ruby took the distraction as an opportunity to cross the bridge. She heard footsteps behind her, which were slower than usual, then…

 ** _THUD!_**

Undyne was on the ground. Her armour, plus the heat of the area, must have been unbearable for a fish monster. Thinking quickly, Ruby ran over to a nearby water cooler and filled a cup with water, then ran over to Undyne and poured it on her head. Undyne slowly woke up and got off the ground.

"What just happened?" she looked up and saw Ruby with the cup in her hand. Assuming she saved her life, Undyne simply got up and walked away.

The next area contained two guards and a laboratory. There was a save point on the ground.

 _"_ _Seeing such a strange laboratory in a place like this fills you with determination."_

"So this is Hotland, huh?"

 _"_ _Yeah, it is. Ruby, you're almost home."_

"Home…" Ruby smiled, tearing up. All she could think of was her friends and family. They were making her just a bit more determined. She decided to investigate the lab.

The inside of the lab was dark and quiet. Seeing a door on the other side, Ruby started walking through the hallway, until a dim light caught her attention.

"A monitor?" Ruby asked to herself, not even noticing what was on the screen.

 _"_ _Wait… is that…YOU?"_ Chara asked in shock.

"Wait… what?!" Ruby looked up on the monitor, and sure enough, there she was, staring back at herself. The monitor followed her every movement. "Is this in real time? Is someone stalking me?" suddenly the door opened.

"Oh my god!" A high pitched voice cried from behind Ruby, followed by a crash. The huntress looked over to see a dinosaur looking monster wearing a lab coat standing there, a broken bowl of ramen noodles at her feet. "I didn't expect you to show up so soon! I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, and it's all messy, and… Um… H-Hiya! I'm Dr. Alphys. I'm Asgore's royal scientist."

"Ruby. But, can I really trust you? You're literally stalking me." Ruby points out, nodding her head towards the monitor.

"B-b-but, I'm not one of the bad guys! Actually, um… since you stepped out of the ruins, I've been observing your journey through my console."

"Yeah. I can see that."

"Watching a person on a monitor really makes you root for someone, y'know? I was originally gonna stop you, but I couldn't. So, now I… ah, wanna help you! Using my knowledge, I could easily guide you through Hotland."

"I don't know…"

"Please! I'm useful! I know a way to Asgore's castle, no problem! Well, actually… there is just a tiny problem."

"Oh, whoever might have guessed?" Ruby muttered. This girl was getting on her nerves. She's so close to home, and this monster is determined to prevent it, she could almost feel it.

"A long time ago, I made a robot named Mettaton. Originally, I built him to be an entertainment robot. You know, like a robotic TV star or something. Recently, I decided to make him more useful. Just some small, practical adjustments. Like… um… anti-human combat features?"

"Awesome. Just great! Because I want another monster interfering with me just wanting to go home! Because that's allowed to happen, right?" Ruby scoffed, losing her temper, which is unusual for the young huntress.

"W-wait! Hear me out! When I saw you coming, I immediately decided to remove those features. Though, I may have made a teeny tiny little error while doing so…"

"How teeny tiny?"

"Now he's an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood."

"That isn't what I would call teeny tiny."

"I know; I'm sorry. But, um, hopefully we won't run into him!"

Suddenly, banging could be heard from behind the wall.

"Um… did you hear something?" Alphys asked in confusion. Ruby nodded and started looking around, moving towards the wall.

"It came from around here…" Ruby replied, before the wall blew open.

"Oh no! Are you okay?" Alphys asked in a panic, helping the huntress to her feet.

"I'm fine… Is that the robot you were talking about?"

"OHHHHHH YES!" A square robot cheered, standing amidst the rubble surrounding his single leg. "Welcome, beauties, to Mettaton's quiz show!" he begins applauding, followed up by an applause audio cue. "Oh boy! I can already tell it's gonna be a great show! Everybody give a big hand for our contestant!" more applause.

"What the heck is happening here?"

"Never played before, gorgeous?"

"I have a boyfriend, thanks. And no, I have never played before."

"No problem! It's simple. There's only one rule. Answer correctly… or you die!"

The game show began and Ruby was thrown into combat. Mettaton was standing there with a script, and Alphys was looking worried.

 _"_ _Okay… what the actual fuck?"_

"Language, Ghost inside of our contestant's head! This is a family show!"

 _"_ _Okay, whaaaaaaaat?"_

"Let's start off with an easy one, alright beautiful? What is the prize for answering correctly? Is it A: Money, B: Mercy, C: A new car, or D: More questions?"

"B?"

"Gahahaha! You wish wrong!" Mettaton boasts while zapping Ruby with a laser.

"AGH!" Ruby cried out in pain, falling to the ground. Alphys covered her mouth in shock.

 _"_ _Ruby!"_ Chara cried in alarm. The attack took off 50% (10 hp) of her aura, and she was unable to stand from the pain. She started crying.

"Screaming is against the rules! Now onto the next question. What is the king's full name? Is it A: Lord Fluffybuns, B: Fuzzy Pushover, C: Asgore Dreemurr, or D: Dr. Friendship?"

"C, right?"

"Correct! What a terrific answer! Enough about you, what about me! Onto the next question! What are robots made of? Is it A: Hopes and Dreams, B: Metal and Magic, C: Snips and Snails, or D: Sugar and Spice?"

"B?"

"Wow! That was too easy for you, huh? Here's another easy one for you! Two trains, train A and train B simultaneously depart from Station A and Station B. Station A and Station B are 262.5 miles away from each other. Train A is moving at 124.7mph towards Station B, while Train B is moving at 253.5mph towards Station A. if both trains departed at 10:00AM and it is now 10:08, how much longer until both trains pass each other? Is it A: 31.054 minutes, B: 16.232 minutes, C: 32.049 minutes, or D: 32.058 minutes?"

Ruby took too long to answer, causing another laser to be fired at her.

"Wrong, wrong, WRONG!"

"AAAHH!" Ruby screamed. Mettaton only started laughing.

"I thought I told you screaming was against the rules, beautiful." Ruby only cried quietly in response. Her Aura was dropped down to only 25% remaining (5hp).

She reached in her pocket for her last remaining nice cream, and felt better. "Your claws are looking sharp." She felt offended until she remembered that these are for monsters, and then she smiled. She placed the wrapper in her pocket and stood up.

"Back for more, gorgeous? Don't count on your victory." He then proceeded to pull out a jar from a compartment in his chest. "How many flies in this jar? A: 54, B: 53, C: 55, or D: 52?"

"B?"

"WRONG! Completely, utterly WRONG!" Mettaton shot her with another laser. Ruby didn't scream, she only bit her lip. She was avoiding taunts as much as possible. "Let's do a memory game. What monster is this? A: Froggit, B: Whimsum, C: Moldsmal, or D: Mettaton?"

"D."

"Correct! Looks like you've been paying attention! But can you guess this one? Would you smooch a ghost? A: Heck Yeah, B: Heck Yeah, C: Heck Yeah, or D: Heck Yeah?"

"Really? Fine… A."

"Great answer, I love it! And I think your little companion loves it too!"

 _"_ _What? No- I uh…"_

"Relax beautiful, I was only kidding! Here's a simple one, how many letters in the word Mettatonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn"

"69."

"Correct! You really have been paying attention. Time to break out the big guns! In the dating simulation Mew Mew Kissy Cutie, what is Mew Mew's favorite food?"

"OH! OH! I KNOW THIS ONE!" Alphys cheered, waving her hands in the air. "IT'S SNAIL ICE CREAM! IN THE FOURTH CHAPTER EVERYONE GOES TO THE BEACH, AND MEW MEW BUYS THEM ALL ICE CREAM BUT NOBODY WANTS IT BECAUSE IT'S SNAIL FLAVOURED! IT'S MY FAVORITE PART OF THE GAME BECAUSE IT'S ACTUALLY A really… powerful message… about… friendship…" She paused her rant and looked awkwardly towards Mettaton, who, despite the lack of a face, was judging her immensely.

"Alphys, Alphys, Alphys…" Mettaton sighed, wagging his finger. "You aren't helping our contestant, are you?"

"N-no!" Alphys yelled, waving her hands in front of herself. "I swear on my role as a scientist that I wasn't!"

"Oooh… you should have told me that you were… I'll ask a question… that you'll be sure to know the answer to. Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on? A: Undyne, B: King Asgore, C: The Human, or D: Don't know?"

Ruby looked over at Alphys, who was wildly waving her hands. This question is clearly getting to her. Using slight logic of the fact that two options were female…

"A."

"See? It was so obvious that even the human got it. Yes! Dr. Alphys is in love with Undyne! Doodling pictures of her, writing her name on every line in her notes, writing equations that had her in it."

"I hate you Mettaton!" A very flustered Alphys whimpered, trying to hide her bright pink face. Mettaton was laughing.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have cheated, right Alphys?"

"But… it's so personal…"

"That concludes tonight's game show! Goodbye beauties!"

"… Well that was certainly something." Alphys snickered, trying to ease the awkwardness of the situation.

 _"_ _Ruby! I just want to make things clear that I have no romantic feelings towards you! Mettaton was-"_

"It's fine Chara…"

"Who's Chara?" Alphys asked with genuine confusion. Ruby remembered the yellow monster was there and looked in her direction.

"Well… you know how Mettaton brought up my "Ghost companion"?"

"Yeah…?"

"Their name is Chara. Heads up, if I'm talking to myself, its Chara."

"Got it." Alphys replied with a chuckle. Ruby went to leave when… "W-wait!"

"What?" Ruby snapped, already annoyed at the delays she was facing. Then, realizing how mean she was acting lately, she calmed down and sighed. "Sorry, I mean, what would you like?"

"L-let me give you my phone number. Th-then maybe, if you need help… I could… Wha- where did you get this phone? It's ancient!" She screeched, grabbing the cell phone from Ruby's hand. "It doesn't even have texting! Wait just a moment." She ran off into her back room with the cell phone. She ran back out only about ten minutes later. "Here! I upgraded it for you. it can do texting, allow you to access boxed items, and it has a nifty little keychain. I modeled the charm off of the rose you have on your hood."

"Oh, okay… neat."

"I also signed you up for the Underground's number one social network. Now we're officially friends, heheheheh….." she proceeded to look around the room awkwardly. "I'm… uh, going to the bathroom."

"What's with these monsters and acting so strange?"

 _"_ _I'm pretty sure the monsters in Hotland are just that extra level of crazy. I visited here when I was a kid, and the man who worked here before Alphys was… unique to put it nicely."_

"Who was he, do you remember?"

 _"_ _That's the thing… I don't know. I don't think anyone does. He just vanished one day and afterwards everyone forgot he existed, including me to some extent. All I remember is the letter "G" and some slight personality traits."_

"Creepy…" Ruby uttered as she stepped out the door to the lab. "In retrospect, spending a lot of time in air conditioning then stepping out into a lava filled area isn't the best idea…"she had stepped back out the front door and decided to go visit a path she glossed over before. At the end of the path was a hooded figure on a boat."

"Tra la la… I am the Riverman! Or am I the Riverwoman…? It does not matter. I love to ride my boat, care to join me?"

"Sure, sounds fun."

"Where would you like to go?"

"Waterfall I suppose."

"Then we're off."

The boat started sailing away, not seeming to be controlled by anything. But when Ruby looked at the water, it appeared to be pushing them forward.

"Dr. Oobleck did say that monsters have semblances, and Sans did too. Maybe hydro-kinesis (Or however it's spelt) is this monster's…"

"Here we are tra la la!"

"Thank you for the ride." Ruby smiles, bowing respectfully at the cloaked figure, who only nodded.

"While we're here, might as well go hang out with Paps and Undyne."

 _Honestly, if she tries to kill you, it isn't my fault."_

"She won't." Ruby brushes off.

 _Are you really that certain?"_

"Hi Papyrus!"

 _"_ _Ugh whatever…"_ Chara scoffed, clearly being ignored.

"OHO! SO YOU'VE FINALLY MADE IT!"

"Sorry, I got sidetracked in Hotland."

"DO NOT APOLOGIZE, MY DEAR FRIEND! WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES! ARE YOU READY TO HANG OUT WITH UNDYNE?"

"Probably about as ready as I'll ever be."

"GOOD, BECAUSE SHE IS WAITING FOR US! I HAVE A PLAN TO MAKE YOU TWO GREAT FRIENDS!"

"Great…" Ruby smiled awkwardly. Papyrus beams and directs her behind him.

"STAY BEHIND ME, COME OUT WHEN I TELL YOU TO." He whispered harshly as he knocked on the door. "PSST. MAKE SURE TO GIVE HER THIS." He ordered, holding a bone out to Ruby. "SHE LOVES THESE." Ruby nods and takes the bone, humouring the skeleton.

"Hi Papyrus!" Undyne greeted as the door opened. She wasn't wearing her armour, so she looked a lot scrawnier than she appeared when they fought. She also appeared to be way nicer around the young skeleton than around her, though she expected that. "Ready for your extra-private, one-on-one training?"

"YOU BET I AM!" Papyrus exclaimed excitedly. "AND I BROUGHT A FRIEND!"

"Hi! I don't think we've…." The fish monster trailed off, realizing who was in front of her. She seemed uncomfortable about the situation, which is something Ruby had in common with her. "Why don't… you two… come in…?"

"Actually, I gotta go-" Ruby began, turning around before getting her cape yanked by Undyne.

"No way out of it!" Undyne then whispered in her ear. "Listen kid, I hate this just as much as you do, but if I have to humour him, so do you." Ruby just gulped and nodded.

"HERE, UNDYNE! MY FRIEND BROUGHT YOU A GIFT ON THEIR OWN!" Papyrus exclaimed, gesturing Ruby forward. She nodded and held the bone out. Undyne rolled her eye and took the gift.

"Uh… thanks. I'll… put it with the others!" She quickly walked away and placed the bone in a drawer with several others. Ruby then figured out that Undyne humours the skeleton regularly. "So, are we ready to start?"

"WHOOPSIE DOOPSIE! I JUST REMEMBERED! I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM! YOU TWO HAVE FUN!" Papyrus exclaimed as he ran for the window. He tried to jump through it, but just smacked his face on the glass. Embarrassed, he rubbed his jaw and opened the window, then proceeded with jumping out the window. Ruby facepalmed, while Undyne appeared completely unfazed. She just glared at Ruby.

"So… why are _you_ here? To rub your victory in my face?" She asked, continually getting closer to Ruby. The huntress backed away, feeling very uncomfortable about the situation Papyrus placed her in. "To humiliate me even _further_? Is that it?"

"What? No! Of course not!"

"Then why are you _here_?"

"Well… I-"

"Wait! I get it! You were hoping to be _friends_!"

"Well… yeah, that would be nice." Ruby smiled, failing to hear the sarcasm in the fish's voice.

"Really? How delightful! I accept!" Undyne replied with heavy sarcasm, a big grin on her face. "Let's all frolic in the fields of friendship! NOT!"

"What? Why?" Ruby asked, genuinely hurt by the warrior's words.

"Why would I _ever_ be friends with you? If you weren't my houseguest, I'd beat you up right now! You, you're the enemy of everyone's hopes and dreams, kid! I WILL NEVER BE YOUR FRIEND, NOW GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" She screamed this last part, spawning a spear and pointing it at the door. Ruby nodded and began to leave when she heard a voice coming from the window.

"DANG! WHAT A SHAME! I THOUGHT UNDYNE COULD BE FRIENDS WITH YOU! I GUESS I OVERESTIMATED HER! SHE'S JUST NOT UP TO THE CHALLENGE." He smirked as he ducked back out from the window sill.

"Challenge? What? Papyrus, wait a second!" Undyne scolded as she ran for the window. The tall skeleton was nowhere to be found. "Damn it! He thinks I can't be friends with YOU?!"

"I feel like I'm about to be invited over…" Ruby muttered to Chara. The ghost giggled and agreed.

 _"_ _Yeah. As stupid as Papyrus might act, he's clever when he needs to be."_

"FUHUHU! What a joke! I can make friends with a wimp like you any day! I'll show him! Listen up, human!"

"My name is Ruby." Ruby sighed, rolling her eyes at the monster.

"Fine! Listen up _RUBY!_ We're not just going to be friends! We're going to be BESTIES!"

"Um… okay…" Ruby smiled, finding the situation she's in to be rather funny.

"It'll be the ultimate revenge!" Undyne grins, looking rather giddy at the plan she came up with. "I'll make you like me so much, you won't ever think about anyone else!" She began laughing hysterically until she regained her composure. "*ahem* Why don't you take a seat?"

Ruby walked over to Undyne's dining room table and sat in the closest chair. But then she noticed a giant sword against the wall, so she got up and investigated it.

"Where did you get this, Undyne? It's so cool!" She beamed, practically drooling over the weapon.

"Well… humans suck, but their history kinda rules. Case in point is this giant sword. Historically, humans wielded swords up to 10X their size, right?"

"Well… I don't know about quite that size, but there are some pretty big weapons. Take Crescent Rose by example." Ruby smiled as she pulled her beloved weapon off of its harness.

"That is a big gun." Undyne commented, inspecting the weapon closer. Ruby giggled at the comment.

"It isn't just a gun." She smiled, flicking a switch that allowed her to fully extend it into its scythe form. "It's a scythe slash customizable, high impact sniper rifle. I'm a bit of a dork when it comes to weapons. I went a little overboard in designing this baby."

"Whoa, you designed this?"

"And made it. I had to at my school."

"Damn Ruby, you're less of a total weenie than I thought."

"Um… thanks, I guess."

"Wait…" Undyne took a step backwards and glared at the young huntress, looking like she's ready to defend herself if necessary. "How many monsters have you hurt or killed with this thing?"

"On purpose… none, in fear, almost two. They scared me and I reacted, but thankfully I have enough restraint and practice to avoid doing damage. Ironically, one of them I'm good friends with now."

"It wasn't Papyrus was it? Because if it was…"

"It wasn't… it was Sans, but he understood the fact that he scared me, and even told some jokes after the incident."

"You're lucky kid. if you so much as scratched him, he would have died. You hear me?"

"Loud and clear. Like I said, it was an accident."

"Whatever kid. let's move on, huh?"

"Yeah, good idea…" Ruby walked over to the table again and sat down, this time not getting up from her chair.

"Comfortable?" Undyne asks, trying her hardest to be friendly. Ruby nods. "I'll get you something to drink!" Undyne walked to her counter and placed down some stuff to choose from. Ruby was having trouble seeing the options, so she stood up to get a closer look. "HEY! DON'T GET UP! YOU'RE THE GUEST! SIT DOWN AND ENJOY YOURSELF!" She screamed, throwing a spear at her table, splitting it in half. Ruby was stunned, afraid to move another inch. "Why don't you just point at what you want? You can use the spear."

"I'll… uh… take some tea then." Ruby suggested, pointing the spear at the pile of boxes.

"Tea, huh? Coming right up!" Undyne smiled as she walked over to the counter. She put on a teapot and waited awkwardly for it to boil. "It'll take a moment for the water to boil."

"That's fine." Ruby smiled. The two were slowly becoming friends until Ruby brought up the fact that she almost hurt Sans. Everything went downhill from there. Now things are back to being awkward.

"Okay! It's all done!" Undyne smiled, walking over with two teacups in hand. She placed one in front of Ruby and smiled. "Careful, it's still a little hot." Ruby only stared at it for a little bit, reluctant to taste the tea. This clearly frustrated Undyne because she had a grip on the now broken table and actually broke off another chunk of wood. "It isn't that hot, just drink it!" Ruby gulped and grabbed the teacup. She took a sip and winced. It was burning hot.

"It's good." Ruby smiled. It was genuine too. The tea was really good.

"Of course! Nothing but the best for my absolutely precious friend!"

"That's very kind of you, thank you Undyne."

"Don't mention it! Actually, it's kind of funny you chose that tea. Golden flower tea. It's Asgore's favorite kind."

 _"_ _It's true. It was what he had for breakfast every morning with Toriel's snail pie."_

"Actually, now that I think about it, you remind me a lot about him. You're both total weenies!" She started laughing, and Ruby awkwardly chuckled in response. "…Sort of. You know… I was a pretty hotheaded kid."

"I never would have guessed." Ruby commented with a smile. Undyne glared at her but returned the smile.

"Oh haha! Once, to prove I was the strongest, I tried to fight Asgore. EMPHASIS ON TRIED! I couldn't land a single hit on him! The worst part is the entire time he refused to fight. I was so humiliated. Afterwards he apologized and said something goofy. _"Excuse me, would you like to learn how to beat me?"_ I said yes, and from then on he trained me. One day, during training, I finally managed to knock him down. I felt bad, but he was _beaming_. Never before had I seen anyone so proud to get their butt kicked. Anyways, long story short, he kept training me, and now I'm head of the royal guard. Here… I've got a picture somewhere…" Undyne got up and went into her room briefly, walking back out with a picture of herself as a child hanging off of the arm of a built goat monster with a thick golden blonde beard. Ruby smiled at the picture. It reminded her of her times with her uncle Qrow. How they would train together and just enjoy themselves. Even down to the arm gestures. She didn't even notice a tear going down her cheek. "Hey, are you crying?" Undyne asked, snapping Ruby back into reality.

"Uh, sorry, this just reminds me of someone back home… My Uncle Qrow."

"Uncle Crow?" So he's a bird?"

"No, Qrow is spelt with a Q, not a C. though he can turn into a bird."

"Cool! Is that his semblance?"

"No… it's more complicated than that… anyways, you were saying?"

"I'm now the one who gets to teach dorks to fight! Like Papyrus…" She looked uncomfortable about the mention of Papyrus, like she was hiding something. "But… to be honest, I don't think Papyrus will ever get into the royal guard. Don't tell him I said that! He's just… well… I mean, it's not that he's weak! He's pretty dang tough! It's just that he's… too innocent and nice. I mean… look! He was _supposed_ to capture you, but he wound up being friends with you instead. I could never send him into battle. He'd get ripped into little smiling shreds. All I care about is him being able to protect himself and his brother if there ever was a need. Especially with how frail Sans is. But that's why I've been giving him cooking lessons, y'know? So that maybe he'd be able to do something else with his life." Ruby nodded and took the last sip of her tea. Teaching Papyrus how to cook? That's genuinely sweet of her to do. "Oh, sorry. I was talking for a while there. You must be out of tea. Here, I'll get you some more." She grabbed the teacup and walked back to the stove before stopping dead in her tracks. "Wait a second…"

"Undyne? What's wrong?"

"PAPYRUS! HIS COOKING LESSON! HE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE IT RIGHT NOW!" She yelled, dropping the cup onto the floor. "And if _he's_ not here to have it, I guess have it, I guess _you'll_ have to do it _for_ him!" She jumped on the counter and slid across, clearing everything out of the way.

"Really?"

"That's right Ruby! NOTHING has brought Papyrus and I closer together than COOKING! Which means that if I give you his lesson, we'll become closer than you can ever imagine!"

"Um…"

"Fuhuhuhuhuhuh! Afraid? We're gonna be the best of friends!"

"Uh… Okay." Ruby smiled. _"Ren has been teaching me how to cook back at home too, so maybe this could help a little…"_ She thought to herself, though she lost her train of thought when she suddenly felt something grab her head. Undyne had picked her up to carry her to the counter in possibly the most painful way possible.

"Let's start with the sauce shall we?" Undyne suggested, stomping her foot on the ground. A few vegetables fell onto the counter from the ceiling, despite the distinct lack of anything to store them in, literally there was nothing there. "Envision these veggies as your greatest enemy. Now, pound them to dust with your fists!" Ruby didn't want to punch vegetables, but she also didn't want Undyne to scold her about not doing anything, so she just kinda… patted them. "What the- DON'T PET THE ENEMY!" I'll show you how it's done!" Undyne uppercut the vegetables, splattering them everywhere. Both girls were covered in bits of tomato. "We'll uh… scrape these into a bowl later."

Ruby grumbled and grabbed a dishrag, wiping the food off of her face. "This ought to be exciting." She sighed, placing the cloth back in the sink.

"Great enthusiasm!" Undyne cheered, stomping on the ground again. This time, a pot and a box of noodles fell from the ceiling. The pot was full of water, but didn't spill a drop."NOW! Time for the NOODLES! Home-made noodles are the best! But I just buy store brand! They're the cheapest!"

"Amen to that!" Ruby smiled as she picked up the box from the stovetop. "How do you want this done?"

"Uh… just put them in the pot." Undyne replies, smiling calmly at the huntress.

 _"_ _I'm not buying the calm attitude. If she wants this done fiercely, do it fiercely!"_

Ruby nods and slams the noodles into the pot with the box.

"YEAH! I'M INTO IT!" Undyne cheers. Ruby smiles triumphantly. "GREAT! Now it's time to stir the pasta! As a general rule of thumb, the more you stir, THE GREATER IT IS! Ready?"

Ruby grabbed a spoon and began stirring the pasta. Undyne was smiling at first, but gradually became more and more impatient.

"UGH! LET ME DO IT!" She spawned a spear and continuously stabbed the pot with it until it was dented to hell and the spoon was pretty much obliterated.

"Um… that's one way to do it…" Ruby joked, wiping hot water off of her face.

"YEP! THAT'S THE STUFF! NOW FOR THE LAST STEP! _TURN UP THE HEAT!"_

"What?" Ruby asked in disbelief. The stovetop was already at a super high temperature.

"Yes! Let the stovetop symbolize your passion! Let your hopes and dreams turn into FIRE! READY?! Don't hold anything back!"

Ruby strained to reach the dial on the tall stovetop. Undyne didn't clarify which way to go, so she first tried left. It didn't move.

"Go to the right! This burner only goes one way! Never mind let me do it!" Undyne cranked the burner until the pot was completely engulfed in flames."There, you see-" Though she was cut off when the stovetop exploded, knocking the two on the floor. Ruby slowly sat up, dazed from the event that just transpired. Undyne was coughing, but smiling. "Ah… Man, no wonder Papyrus sucks at cooking…"

"The stove exploding probably has nothing to do with Papyrus' cooking skills." Ruby commented as she got up from the floor, also coughing. She winced at the sudden pain in her arm. There was a small burn near her shoulder, and it hurt.

"You're right. Thanks for that Ruby, I needed some encouragement. So, what's next? Friendship bracelets? Scrap booking?"

"Um…" Ruby trails off, not sure exactly what to say here.

 _"_ _You should leave soon; this place is literally on fire."_

"Thanks captain obvious!" Ruby whispers at the ghost in response.

"Oh who am I kidding?" Undyne yells, punching the counter. "We both know I really screwed this up! I can't force you to like me! Some people just don't get along with each other!"

"That's not true, really!" Ruby tries desperately to encourage the warrior, but to no avail. Undyne is convinced that she hates her.

"Stop Ruby. It's okay. If we can't be friends, that's okay! Because, if we're not friends… I CAN DESTROY YOU WITHOUT REGRET!"

"What?" Ruby cried out in alarm. "After all that you're just gonna try and kill me again?"

"That's right!" Undyne cried as she pulled Ruby into combat. "I've been defeated, my house is in shambles, and I even failed to befriend you. That's it… I don't care if you're my guest anymore. One final rematch, all out on both sides! IT'S THE ONLY WAY I CAN REGAIN MY LOST PRIDE! NOW, COME ON! HIT ME WITH ALL YOU GOT! NGYAAAAAAHHHHH! And to make it fair, I'll heal your injuries sustained from the explosion."

Ruby felt a warm sensation around her body, separate from the flames all around her. The burn on her arm healed quickly and only left a scar, and the throbbing pain in her head vanished too.

"Okay, Undyne… get ready…" Ruby wound up her fist, looking ready to hit her full force, but not wanting to hurt her, she only lightly bopped her in the nose. Undyne just stared at her in confusion.

"That's it? Even attacking full force, you just don't have it in you to hurt me?" Undyne's confusion and anger slowly faded into a sad smile as she dropped her weapon. "Sigh… you know what? I don't actually want to hurt you either. At first, I hated your stupid saccharine schtick, but then… the way you hit me just now… it reminded me of someone I used to train with. Now I know you aren't some kind of wimpy loser. You're a wimpy loser with a big heart!" She beamed. Ruby smiled at the fish woman. For someone who hated her guts less than an hour ago, she's actually really nice. "Just like him. Sigh…" Undyne frowned again, appearing to have something important to get off her chest. "Listen Ruby. It looks like you and Asgore are destined to fight. But knowing him, he probably doesn't want to. Talk to him, I'm sure you can persuade him to let you go home. Eventually some mean human will fall down here, and I'll just steal their soul instead. That makes sense, right?"

"Yeah, I guess it's fair." Ruby smiled.

"Oh, and if you _do_ hurt Asgore, I will take the human souls, cross the barrier, and beat the hell out of you. That's what friends are for, right?"

"No worries Undyne, I promise to not hurt your king. I swear it on my role as a huntress."

"You better keep your word, or I'll kill you. Now let's get the hell out of this burning house."

The two ran for the door, gasping for fresh air as they walked out the door.

"Undyne, word of advice for ya… Next time you want to fight, how about you don't do it in a burning building?"

"Duly noted…" "Undyne agreed. "But that was fun; we should do it again another time… At another location."

"Where are you gonna go? You can't stay here."

"Eh, I'll probably crash at Papyrus' house. Though I should talk to Alphys about those MTT brand ovens; that exploded at way too low of a temperature. It could have gone at least 300 more degrees Fahrenheit!"

"MTT?"

"Yeah, Mettaton. Anyways, gotta go, see ya!"

"I'll tell Alphys you said hi!"

 _"_ _Let's just head back to Hotland."_

Ruby agreed and walked back down to the Riverman, and climbed on the boat to return to Hotland.

"Tra la la. Beware of the man who speaks in hands."

 _"_ _Weird…"_

What's wrong Chara?"

 _"_ _Something felt strangely familiar about that statement…"_

"We have arrived, tra la la."

"Good to be back!" Ruby sighed, stretching. She walked through the lab and out the back door. "Whoa…"

Hotland is huge. It has conveyor belts, gears, lights, wires, air vents, and doors bigger than Ruby's house. Ruby walked foreword, mesmerized by all of the machinery around her. She heard a ding come from her pocket, and grabbed her phone.

"Alphys: Just realized I didn't watch Undyne fight the human… :("

"Right. Social media. I hope this doesn't become too annoying…" Ruby quipped as she placed her phone back in her pocket. She didn't even take another step before her phone dinged again.

"Alphys: Well, I know she's unbeatable so I'll ask her about it later ^.^"

 _"_ _That's gonna get really annoying really fast…"_ Chara sighed. Ruby chuckled and placed the phone in her pocket.

"Chill Chara. It's just a phone. You could always just return to Waterfall and chill with Blooky."

 _Don't be stupid. If I do that, you'll die for sure. I can show you how to get through here alive."_

"Awww… is big, tough Chara actually caring for me?"

 _"_ _Shut up."_

 _Ding._

"Alphys: For now I gotta call up the human and guide her. =^.^="

 _"_ _Bitch! That's my job!"_

"Relax Chara." Ruby giggled as she walked up to a conveyor belt. It goes up to a higher ledge over a direct lava flow. Ruby was hesitant, in fear of falling to a fiery doom.

 _"_ _It's okay, this is actually safe. Just take a deep breath and step on the belt. You'd think a huntress who literally puts her life at risk to fight deadly soulless beings (aka the creatures of Grimm) would be easier going with this."_

"This… this is different."

 _"_ _Shut up and go."_

Ruby took a deep breath and stepped onto the conveyor belt. She wobbled a bit as she lost her balance, but quickly gained her footing. The top of the conveyor belt was right in front of her, so she stepped off, and then she was thrown into combat.

"Hiiiiii!" A cheerful little volcano monster cheered. It was absolutely adorable.

"Hi there! What's your name?"

"Vulkin! My lava can heal, wanna see?" She asked with a smile, shooting lava at Ruby.

 _"_ _Her lava can't heal, avoid it!"_

"Oh boy!"Ruby muttered as she quickly avoided the young monster's attacks. "Um, Vulkin? Your attacks aren't helpful. In fact, they're a little dangerous!"

"Not… helpful…? Okay…" Vulkin pouted, sulking in a corner.

"But it's okay, you were trying to help." Ruby smiled, hugging the small monster. She burned at the touch, but Ruby didn't care. She made someone happy. The encounter ended and the huntress continued on her way.

 _"_ _This place is so creepy…"_ Chara commented. Ruby wasn't able to say anything before her phone went off. _"_ _Throw the damn thing in the lava already!"_

"Relax will ya?"

"Alphys: gonna call them in a minute! =^.^="

"Okay, so I should expect a phone call- eep!"

Ruby froze, paralyzed by fear as she looked at the conveyor belt in front of her. It changed directions rapidly and was super fast. She looked down to the lava below, and started panicking.

 _"_ _Ruby, you need to calm down. I know you're scared, but you can't go home if you can't even step onto a conveyor belt."_

"I don't see you trying!"

 _"_ _I'm dead. I kind of can't."_ Chara sighed. _"_ _It's the same as before. Take a deep breath and step onto it. There will be scarier things than this, trust me."_

Ruby let out a slight whimper as she stepped onto the conveyor belt. She fell over and was stuck in a sitting position as she was thrown around the conveyor belt, terrified of being thrown off the entire time.

 _"_ _Are you alright? I'm sorry! I didn't know that you'd fall!"_

"I'm fine… a little shaky, but I'm… I'm fine." Ruby gasped, out of breath from when she fell. "Let's go."

 _"_ _The whooshing sound of steam and cogs… it fills you with determination."_

"I dunno. Finally going home fills me with determination."

 _DING_

"Alphys: I HATE USING THE PHONE I WISH I DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS LMAO ^.^"

 _"_ _Good. Don't."_

"Chara! That's rude!"

 _"_ _What's rude is you subjecting me to this torture by not ignoring her."_

"Yeah yeah whatever." Ruby put her phone into her pocket and walked forwards, suddenly being lifted into the air again and again. "Uh… what just happened?"

 _"_ _Steam vents. You just stepped on one and set it off in a chain reaction. Don't freak out or anything. That's what you were supposed to do."_

"That… was… AWESOME!" Ruby cheered. "Please tell me there are more of those than conveyor belts!"

"Well… yeah. But are you seriously more afraid of conveyor belts than being lifted in the air over the lava?"

"Don't ruin this for me."

 _Ding._

 _"_ _Speaking of ruining things…"_

"Alphys: omg I've had my claw over the last digit for like five minutes. Omg I'm gonna do it. I'm just gonna do it."

"Ring… ring… click…?"

"Huh? They hung up."

Ruby walked through the door and found a path of lasers. Before she could do anything her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Um… h-hi! So the blue lasers… they won't hurt you if you don't m-move. O-orange ones, um… Y-you have to be moving and they… they won't um… Move through those ones! Um… bye!" Alphys hung up, leaving Ruby both informed and confused.

 _"_ _What the hell just happened?"_

"I don't know…"

Ding.

"Alphys: OH MY GOD I DID IT! Claws haven't shook like that since Undyne called about the weather."

 _"_ _I-"_

"Don't even say it Chara."

 _"_ _I was gonna say that was adorable. But now that you mention it…"_

"Chara…"

 _"_ _Fine! Fine. I'm totally over it."_

 _Ding._

 _"_ _HOLY SHIT, BURN IT! BURN IT RIGHT NOW!"_

"Alphys: WAIT THERE'S NO WEATHER DOWN HERE WHY DID SHE CALL ME?!"

Ruby chuckled and walked forwards. There was a small switch on the wall. She pressed it and it turned off.

"Would have been useful on the other side of this thing."

Ding.

"Alphys: Omg I just realized I forgot to tell her where to go."

Ding.

"Alphys: Cute pic of me right now! ^.^"

"Is that a picture of a garbage can?"

 _"_ _With pink glitter filters all over it?"_

 _Ring… ring…._

"A-a-a-Alphys here! Th.. the northern door will stay locked until you solve the puzzles on the right and left. I… I think you should go to the right first!"

Click…!

Ruby stepped on a vent and was shot forwards, the wrong direction.

 _"_ _I think you missed."_ Chara teased, to the amusement (Or lack-there-of) of thee huntress.

"What do you want me to do then?" Ruby asked, stepping on the vent to carry her back.

 _"_ _It rotates. Just wait for it to face the way you want it to go, and it will take you there."_

After some very tedious vent timing, and some very mundane puzzles, Ruby was through the door. Around the corner was a line of steam vents, which Ruby happily launched herself across. A very dark room was ahead. With caution, she entered.

Ring

"H-hey! Alphys here! It's kind of dark in there, isn't it?"

"Gee, what was your first clue?"Ruby asked, trying to look into the darkness.

"Sorry… u-um I'll hack into the light system and brighten it up!" Alphys cheered, hanging up. Suddenly the lights were on, and Ruby was in the middle of…

A kitchen.

"Oh no…" Ruby sighed, pinching her nose.

"OOOOOOHHH YES!" Mettaton cheered, popping up from the floor. He was wearing a chef hat. "WELCOME, BEAUTIES! TO THE UNDERGROUND'S PREMIER COOKING SHOW!"

A neon sign that read "Cooking with a killer robot" appeared over head. Ruby looked outwards awkwardly, but there was no one there, not even a camera.

"PREHEAT YOUR OVENS, BECAUSE WE'VE GOT A VERY SPECIAL RECIPE FOR YOU TODAY! WE'RE GOING TO BE MAKING… A CAKE! MY LOVELY ASSISTANT HERE WILL NOW BRING OUT THE INGREDIENTS!"

Ruby gave the machine a dirty look before walking to the counter, making sure to do it slowly, and mess with him even further. She was close. She was so god damn close to being home, and this robot was only making it harder.

"Is this good?"

"YOU'RE DOING WONDERFULLY DARLING! NOW BRING THE INGREDIENTS TO THE TABLE!"

Ruby happily walked over to the table to deposit all of the ingredients.

"There! Done."

"PERFECT! WE'VE GOT ALL OF THE INGREDIENTS FOR THIS CAKE! MILK! SUGAR! EGGS! OH MY… WAIT A SECOND! WE ALMOST FORGOT THE MOST IMPORTANT INREDIENT!" Mettaton paused, realizing his error. Ruby looked at the rectangle with confusion. She got everything, right? "A HUMAN SOUL!"

Ruby backed away as the robot pulled out a chainsaw.

"Um… can we talk about this? Please?" She asked, recoiling as she felt her arm get shocked. An electric barrier. Perfect.

Ring.

"HELLO! I'M KIND OF IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING ALPHYS!" Mettaton sighed, putting down the chainsaw.

"W-wait a second!" The scientist panicked over the phone. "Couldn't you make a… couldn't you use a… Couldn't you make a substitution in the recipe?"

"A SUBSTITUTION? YOU MEAN A NON HUMAN INGREDIENT? WHY?"

"What if… somebody's… vegan?" Alphys suggested. Ruby bit her lip, hoping that it would work.

 _"_ _Alphys you better know what you're doing…"_ Chara muttered. Ruby swallowed and nodded.

"VEGAN? THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA ALPHYS! ACTUALLY I HAPPEN TO HAVE AN OPTION RIGHT HERE! MTT-BRAND ALL-CONVENIENT HUMAN-SOUL-FLAVOUR-SUBTITUTE! A CAN OF WHICH IS JUST OVER ON THAT COUNTER!" Mettaton pointed excitedly to a small counter in the corner, which has a can sitting on it. "WELL RUBY, WHY DON'T YOU GO GET IT?"

 _"_ _Wait, was your fate decided by a can of artificial human soul flavouring?"_ Chara asked. _"_ _This level of stupidity makes my head hurt."_

Ruby walked over to the counter, but just as she was about to grab it, the counter launched about fifty feet in the air.

"BY THE WAY, OUR SHOW RUNS ON A VERY STRICT SCHEDULE! IF YOU CAN'T GET THE CAN DOWN IN THE NEXT ONE MINUTE, WE'LL HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL PLAN!" Mettaton explained. Even without a face you could practically see him smirking at Ruby. "SO! BETTER START CLIMBING!"

 _"_ _I hate this guy."_

RING

"O-oh no! there's not enough time to climb up!" Alphys panicked.

"I dunno." Ruby contemplated. "With enough momentum my semblance could carry me up there."

"N-no! that's too risky! I have a plan! I added a few features to your phone! You see the huge button that says "JETPACK"?"

"The what?" Ruby asked, pulling her phone enough to look at it.

"P-press it!"

Ruby hesitantly pressed the button and it started to shake,jumping out of her hands. It split apart into a jetpack, just like in anime.

"T-there!" Alphys called out, speaking through a tiny communicator. It was still a phone after all. "You should have enough fuel to reach the top."

Ruby rolled her eyes as the jetpack launched her upwards, getting pelted by sugar, milk and eggs on the way.

"Ew ew ew gross!" She muttered, eggs and milk allowing the sugar to stick to her. She was gross, sticky, and she had sugar in her eyes. This was the worst.

 _"_ _This is nasty!"_ Chara agreed. _"_ _But at least we're almost there!"_

"MY MY! IT SEEMS YOU'VE BESTED ME!" Mettaton sighed, holding a gloved metal hand to his face(?). "BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOOU HAD HELP FROM THE BRILLIANT DR. ALPHYS! OH I LOATHE TO THINK ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU WITHOUT HER!"

"Your acting isn't fooling anybody y'know." Ruby sighed.

"WHATEVER DO YOU MEAN?" Mettaton scoffed. "I MOST CERTAINLY AM _NOT_ ACTING! HOW DARE YOU?!"

"Whatever you say."

"FINE! NOW, DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE CAKE. THIS IS A COOKING SHOW DARLING, THE CAKE IS ALREADY BAKED."

Ruby was about to say something when he flew off.

 _"_ _Okay, so he was_ just _trying to kill you."_ Chara realized. _"_ _I really don't like him."_

"No point dwelling on it." Ruby sighed. "Come on, let's go!"

 _"_ _An ominous structure looms in the distance, filling you with determination."_

RING

 _"_ _Grrrrr….."_

"Relax Chara." Ruby sighed. "Hello?"

"S-see that ominous building in the background?

"It's a little hard to miss." Ruby joked.

"Maybe… ha ha. Anyways. That's the Core! The source of all power in the underground. It transfers geothermal energy into magical electricity by- uhh… anyway! That's where we're gonna go. Inside is an elevator that leads straight to Asgore's castle. From there you can go home."

"Thanks Alphys."

 _"_ _Are you excited?" You're almost home."_

"Yeah… I miss my family. How long have I been down here? A month?"

 _"_ _Not quite_ that _long. More like 12 days."_

"That's still a long time." Ruby pointed out, stepping into an elevator. They moved on to another floor, walking over to see Sans at yet another sentry station.

"Heya Ruby!" Sans greeted. "Wanna buy a hot dog?"

"Nah, I'm good." Ruby smiled.

"Wanna just stack them on your head then?"

"What?" Ruby just stared as he grabbed a hot dog and put it on her head. "Um…"

"Just hold still."

Sans stacked a good twenty of them before they were out of reach. He took out a phone and snapped a picture, just before Ruby lost her balance and fell over.

"W-woah!" She gasped, landing on her butt.

"Are you okay?" Sans snickered, offering her a hand up. Ruby nodded and took it, pulling the hand right off.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I didn't hurt you did I?" Ruby panicked, remembering what Papyrus said about how fragile the skeleton was.

"Nah, it's normal." Sans smiled, simply re-attaching the limb.

"Phew…"

"I gotta _hand it to ya_ though, it was nice of you to make sure I was okay."

"I would feel really guilty if I hurt you."

"You know what Ruby, you're a good kid. Now get going so you can go home."

"Bye Sans!" Ruby smiled, waving as she ran down the path.

 _Ding_

Alphys: Dinner with the girlfriend ;)

 _"_ _That's Just a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie doll and instant noodles."_

"I don't know whether to be concerned or not…"

 _Ding_

Coolskeleton95: ARE WE POSTING "HOT PICS"? HERE'S ME AND MY COOL FRIEND!

"Is that Papyrus?"

 _"_ _He's wearing sunglasses, while wearing fake biceps. Wait a second… are those biceps wearing sunglasses?"_

"Typical Papyrus." Ruby chuckled. A distant laugh could be heard. Ruby had a feeling Sans saw the picture too.

 _Ding_

Alphys: Lol, Coolskeleton95!

… that's a joke right?"

 _Ding_

Coolskeleton95: THE ONLY JOKE HERE IS HOW STRONG MY MUSCLES ARE!

Ruby turned left, coming across a dead end. At the end of the path was an apron.

 _"_ _That's armour. It'll probably be useful in a later on fight."_

 _Ding_

Napstablook22 has sent you a friend request!

 _Ding_

Request has been taken back by sender.

Ruby sighed and picked up the apron, putting it on. She wasn't sure how protected she was, but at least the apron was cute.

She left the room, spotting a conveyor belt puzzle.

"Oh my Oum…"

 _Ring!_

"H-hi! It's Dr. Alphys! This puzzle is kind of time based. You see the switches? You need to press them all within three seconds."

"I can manage that."

"I'll try to help you with rhythm."

 _Click._

"Okay puzzle… don't start trouble, and there won't be trouble." She stepped on the conveyor belt and pressed the first two buttons, but missed the third one when her phone rang.

"Okay! Now press the third one!" Alphys cheered excitedly. After an awkward three second pause the laser gate shut down. "Hey look at that! You only needed to press two!"

 _Click_

"Yeah, there is definitely something strange going on here…" Ruby sighed, putting the phone in her pocket.

 _"_ _I told you not to trust her."_

"I've never really trusted her."

 _Ding_

Alphys: That's the last time I help with a puzzle lol.

"Whoa…"

This next room is a steam vent puzzle, full of buttons and platforms. It looks extremely difficult.

 _Ring_

"H-hey! I'm going to the bathroom, so I'll be MIA for a bit. I'm… I'm sure you can handle this puzzle yourself."

 _Click_

" _Wow. Thanks for the help Alphys, you're a real pal."_ Chara sighed. Ruby looked over the puzzle, trying to figure it out.

"Wait, there's no laser gate on the other side, so I just need to get across… Maybe if I just use some well aimed jumps using my semblance, I don't need to worry about the steam vents."

 _"_ _That is quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever heard."_

Ruby ignored the ghost, getting in a position to jump. The first few were fine, but after miscalculating how far the next platform was, Ruby found her jump to be a bit too far, and found herself falling towards the lava below.

"AAHH!"

"Gotcha!" A new voice called out, grabbing her by the wrist. Next thing she knew, Ruby was on her feet, safe and sound on the other side of the puzzle. A bit of calming down and a deep breath later, she had the time to see who her saviour was.

"Sans?"

"Are you stupid?" He asked, face palming. "You couldn't have just done the puzzle? You had to jump across? This isn't the Ruins, Ruby. If you screw this up, you're dead. There's no save point that'll bring you back from that."

"Sorry…"

"I know…" Sans sighed, his face still buried in his hand. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks. How did you know I was in trouble?"

"I may be lazy, but I still do my job sometimes. I was patrolling the area and watched you fall."

"Oh… guess I was just lucky then."

"Lucky doesn't even _begin_ to cover it… I gotta get back to work, try not to kill yourself, will ya?"

"Okay." Ruby smiled, watching Sans teleport away.

 _"_ _I told you that was stupid."_

"I know, I know."

 _Ding_

Alphys: OMG! Ppl think Mew Mew 2 is better than Mew Mew 1? LOLLLLLL That's a joke right?"

 _"_ _Knowing the mouse one day might hack the computerized safe and get the cheese fills you with DETERMINATION."_

"That one doesn't even make any sense."

 _"_ _You jumping over a pit of lava makes no sense."_

"Touché."

 _Ding_

Alphys: OMG don't they get it Ruins? Mew Mew's entire Character Arc!

 _Ding_

Alphys: My Mew Mew 2 Review: Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 is neither Kissy nor Cutie. It's trash. 0 stars.

"Hey You STOP!" A deep voice called out. Ruby jumped and turned her head, watching meekly as two guards in full suits of armour approached. It was the bunny who spoke.

"Um… hello. What can I do for you?"

"We've, like, received an anonymous tip about a human with silver eyes and a cape. They told us they were wandering around Hotland right now. I know, sounds scary huh? Well, just stay chill, we'll bring you somewhere safe, okay?"

"Um…"

 _"_ _Roll with it."_

"Sure. Thanks."

"Hold on a sec." The dragon whispered, pulling the bunny close.

"What is it dude?"

"That person has silver eyes, and a cape. Just like that person said."

"Okay… this is… super awkward… We, like, actually need to kill you and stuff." The bunny muttered, scratching his head.

Ruby glanced at the guards, trying to figure out how to stop them. She checked her options for both guards, finding an option to "Clean armour" on the dragon guard. She ripped off a loose part of her cape and soaked it with water she had in her pocket, running around the guard and scrubbing his armour as fast as possible.

"Armour… too hot…" He panted, pulling off his breast plate. Ruby covers her eyes, but the bunny starts sweating. Ruby notices, and a jolt of realization sweeps over her.

"Mr… Bunny guard, is there something you need to tell your, um, bro?"

"Dude… I can't… take this anymore. Not like this! I like… _like_ you bro! the way you fight, the way you talk, I love doing team attacks with you. I love standing here with you, bouncing and waving our weapons. 02, I want to stay like this forever."

 _"_ _Aw…"_

"Um… I mean… Uh, Psyche! Gotcha bro! Haha!"

"01?"

"Yeah, bro?"

"Do you wanna… get some nice cream after this?"

"Sure dude. Haha."

"You two have fun now." Ruby smiled, walking away.

"Yo, see you around human!" 01 smiled, waving. The guards grabbed each other's hand and walked away.

 _Ding_

Alphys: Oopswait how's the human doing?

 _Ding_

Alphys: Top ten shows that'll make you forget to do your frickin job.

 _Ring_

"Okay I'm back! Another dark room, huh? Don't worry, my hacking skills have got things covered." The lights turned on, revealing that Ruby is just on a screen, if that makes any sense."Oh you have got to be kidding me."

"OOOOOHHHH YES!" Mettaton cheered excitedly. He was a news anchor, complete with the suit. "GOOD EVENING BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES! THIS IS METTATON REPORTING LIVE FROM MTT NEWS! AN INTERESTING SITUATION HAS ARISEN IN EASTERN HOTLAND! FORTUNATELY OUR CORESPONDANT IS OUT THERE, REPORTING LIVE! BRAVE CORRESPONDANT, PLEASE FIND SOMETHING NEWS WORTHY TO REPORT! OUR TEN WONDERFUL VIEWERS ARE WAITING FOR YOU!"

"I found a basketball."

"BASKETBALL'S A BLAST, ISN'T IT DARLING? TOO BAD YOU CAN'T PLAY WITH THESE BALLS! THEY'RE MTT BRAND FASHION BASKETBALLS! FOR WEARING, NOT PLAYING! YOU CAN'T GET RICH AND FAMOUS LIKE MOI WITHOUT BEAUTIFYING A FEW ORBS!"

"Oh, there's a dog over there."

"WHAT A SENSATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR A STORY! I CAN SEE THE HEADLINES NOW! "A DOG EXISTS SOMEWHERE!" FRANKLY I'M BLOWN AWAY!"

"Fine, if you're gonna be like that, this _will_ be what I report on."

"MY MY! SUCH AN ATTITUDE! BUT THIS DOG IS NO ORDINARY DOG! IT'S A BOMB!"

"Wait, _what?_ "

Sure enough, the dog's tail lit up like a fuse.

"WHAT AN _EXPLOSIVE_ STORY! BUT YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN THE REST OF THE ROOM! EVERYTHING IN THIS ROOM IS A BOMB! THAT GLASS OF WATER'S A BOMB! THAT BASKETBALL'S A BOMB! EVEN MY WORDS!" Random words fell and blew up, knocking Ruby backwards. Things did not look good. "BRAVE COORESPONDANT, IF YOU DON'T DEFUSE ALL OF THESE BOMBS, THEN THAT BIG BOMB WILL BLOW UP IN TWO MINUTES. THEN YOU WON'T BE REPORTING _LIVE_ ANY LONGER! HOW TERRIBLE! HOW DISTURBING! OUR NINE VIEWERS ARE GOING TO ENJOY WATCHING THIS! GOOD LUCK DARLING!"

 _Ring_

"D-don't worry! I installed a bomb-defusing program on your phone. Use the defuse option when the bomb is in the _defuse zone._ Now go get em!"

 _Click_

"Ow!"Ruby winced, trying to get up.

 _"_ _What's the matter?"_

"My ankle. I think I hurt it when the bombs went off."

 _"_ _Well,_ eat _then!"_

"I can't, I can't access my inventory."

 _"_ _What are you going to do then?"_

"All I can do is wait it out and hope Alphys figures out how to defuse that big bomb."

 _"_ _I thought you didn't trust her."_

"I don't have much of a choice right now."

"TIME'S UP DARLING! YOU DIDN'T DEFUSE A SINGLE BOMB! YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, DON'T YOU? IT MEANS SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR LIFE, BECAUSE IT'S ABOUT TO GO UP IN SMOKE." A very awkward amount of time passed, revealing the fact that the bomb wasn't exploding. "AH… IT APPEARS THAT THE BOMB ISN'T GOING OFF…"

 _Ring_

"T-that's because… while you were monologuing… I fixed- I…I changed…"

"OH NO! YOU DEACTIVATED THE BOMB USING YOUR HACKING SKILLS!"

"Yeah, that's what I did!"

"CURSES! IT SEEMS I HAVE BEEN FOILED AGAIN! CURSE YOU HUMAN! CURSE YOU DR. ALPYS FOR HELPING HER! BUT I DON'T CURSE MY EIGHT WONDERFUL VIEWERS FOR TUNING IN! UNTIL NEXT TIME DARLING!"

Mettaton blasted off, leaving Ruby alone. she reached into her pocket for a crab apple.

"That won't help."Sans informed, teleporting in front of her.

"Oh, hi Sans." Ruby smiled, placing the fruit back in her pocket.

"There's no point in wasting items on an injury it won't heal. It didn't affect your aura, so it won't do anything for you." He kneeled in front of her and grabbed her ankle, using magic to heal it.

"What are you doing?"

" _Heeli_ ng you." Sans joked, winking at the human.

"Mmhm." Ruby smiled awkwardly.

"There, good as new. Here." He handed her a container.

"What's this?"

"Figured you were hungry. It's been about a day or two since you last ate, so you could definitely use the food. I just got this from Grillby's so it's still fresh."

"Wow, thanks Sans."

"You know, I could always just take you to Asgore's castle."

"No thanks." Frisk smiled, getting off the ground. "Thanks for this though, that was so sweet of you."

"Hey, no prob." Sans smiled, teleporting away with a salute.

 _"_ _He likes you."_

"I know." Ruby giggled. "It's a little obvious."

 _Ring_

"Um… I've noticed that you haven't talked as much the last few phone calls. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Alphys."

"Are you nervous about meeting Asgore? Well, don't worry okay? The king is a really nice guy. I'm sure you can talk to him, and with your human soul you can pass through the barrier. So don't worry okay? Just forget about it and smile."

"Okay… if you say so."

 _Click_

"I can't believe I'm so close to home!" Ruby smiled. "It's been almost a month! I've never been so excited in my life!"

 _"_ _Yeah, there isn't too much left to do here in Hotland. Better make sure you still have that cider though."_

"Yeah, it's in my pocket."

 _"_ _Good, you're going to need it."_

On the next floor, there was a little bake sale, but the prices were outrageous, so Ruby kept walking.

In the next room was another jumping puzzle, and on the north and southern ends there were more shooting puzzles. Ruby figured them out rather quickly, so she made it out of the puzzle room rather quick. On the other side was a save point, and tons of spider webs.

"Ew…I hate spiders…"

 _"_ _The smell of cobwebs fills the air,. You're filled with determination."_

"Ahuhuhuhuhuhuhu. Did you hear what they just said?" A creepy voice echoed through the cobwebby corridor. "They said a human with a red cape would pass through here." The voice was high pitched, and slightly British. "I heard they hate spiders." The voice was distinctly female. "I heard that they like to stomp on them. I heard that they love to tear their legs off. I heard…" The person who was speaking made her presence known. She was a light purple spider girl. Her hair was in two pigtails on her head, tied off with bows. She was drinking a cup of tea. "…that they're awfully stingy with their money. Ahuhuhu! You think your taste is too refined for our pastries deary?" She laughed, bringing one of her hands to her mouth as she giggled. "I disagree with that notion. Your taste is exactly what this next batch needs."

 _"_ _Muffet will attack you unless you pay her, but the best way to beat her is just to consume whatever item you bought in the Ruins."_

Ruby pulled the jug out of her pocket and popped the cork, taking a long swig of the liquid inside. she gagged, but forced herself to swallow the nasty liquid.

"What? Where did you get that?" Muffet asked, looking rather angry. "Did you steal it? My pet, why don't we show this human how we deal with thieves."

"Chara!"

 _"_ _Give it a second."_

"Huh?" Muffet glanced down at the spider that ran into the room. "A telegram from the spiders in the Ruins?" She picked up the paper, reading it over. "Oh, I apologize deary. It appears I have made a mistake. You didn't steal that. As a thank you for supporting our cause, I will let you pass. Feel free to stop by and play with my pet." She smiled, petting a giant muffin monster."Just kidding. Now run along deary."

Ruby ran out of the room and vomited. She didn't know what that liquid was, but it was definitely not apple cider.

"I thought you said it was apple cider!" She gagged.

 _"_ _It is!"_ Chara defended. _"_ _Just, it's crab apples."_

"Ugh…"

 _"_ _And I think beetles."_

Ruby threw up again. "Ugh, I'm pretty sure that was the nastiest thing I have ever put in my mouth…"

"ATTENTION BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES! MY COSTAR HAS JUST ARRIVED!"

"Oh no…"

"PUT YOUR PAWS AND CLAWS TOGETHER FOR THE HUMAN!"

"What the heck?"

"COULD IT BE… MY ONE TRUE LOVE?" Mettaton asked, putting on a show. Music started, and the rectangle started to sing. "OH MY LOVE! PLEASE RUN AWAY! MONSTER KING FORBIDS YOUR STAY! HUMANS MUST LIVE FAR APART! EVEN IF IT BREAKS MY HEART! THEY'LL PUT YOU IN THE DUNGEON! IT'LL SUCK,AND THEN YOU'LL DIE A LOT. REALLY SAD YOU'RE GONNA DI! CRY CRY CRY! SO SAD IT'S HAPPENING!" He sang, seemingly making it up as he went along. The music stopped, and so did the singing. "SO SAD… SO SAD YOU'RE GOING TO THE DUNGEON! WELL, TOODLES!" He cheered, pulling out a remote. He pressed the button and Ruby was in a free fall, using her semblance to make sure she didn't hurt herself.

"Why didn't I do this before?" She asked herself with a smile. "This could have saved a lot of pain in the Ruins."

"OH NO! WHATEVER SHALL I DO?" Mettaton whimpered, holding his finger to his screen, pretending to wipe away a tear. "MY LOVE HAS BEEN CAST AWAY INTO THE DUNGEON. A DUNGEON WITH A PUZZLE SO DASTARDLY, MY PARAMOUR SHALL SURELY PERISH! OH MERCY ME, IT'S THE HORRIBLE COLOURED TILE MAZE! EACH TILE HAS IT'S OWN SADISTIC FUNCTION! FOR EXAMPLE, A GREEN TILE IS AN ALARM TILE, AND WILL ALERT A MONSTER TO FIGHT YOU! RED TILES WILL… ACTUALLY, 'T WE SEE THIS PUZZLE ABOUT A HUNDRED ROOMS AGO?"

 _"_ _Is he talking about Snowdin? But he wasn't even there…"_

"He does kind of look like the randomization puzzle…"

"THAT'S RIGHT! YOU REMEMBER ALL THE RULES, CORRECT? GREAT! THEN I WON'T WASTE YOUR TIME BY REPEATING THEM!"

"But I didn't answer…"

"OH, AND YOU BEETTER HURRY. BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T GET THROUGH IN ABOUT THIRTY SECONDS, THIS FIRE WALL WILL BURN YOU ALIVE." The sound of robotic laughter filled the air."OH, MY POOR AMOUR! I AM SO FILLED WITH GRIEF I CAN'T HELP BUT LAUGH! GOOD LUCK DARLING!"

"Semblance don't fail me now!" Ruby smirked, jumping into the air and launched herself across, landing on the other side.

"MY MY! IT APPEARS WE HAV A CHEATER ON OUR HANDS LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! I GUESS YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO FRY INSTEAD!"

Ruby watched as the flames slowly closed in on her, feeling the heat on her face.

 _Ring_

"Watch out, I'll save you! I'm hacking into the fire wall now!"

The walls shut off, leaving a very relieved Ruby standing there.

"OH NO! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? FOILED AGAIN BY THE BRILLIANT DR. ALPHYS!"

"That'sright! Tou'll never beat us! Not as long as we work together!" Alphys cheered excitedly on the other end. "Your puzzle's over! Now go home and leave us alone!"

PUZZLE…OVER? Alphys, DARLING, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU STEP ON A GREEN TILE RIGHT?" An awkward pause filled the room. "WELL WELL WELL… WELL WELL WELLY WELL WELL…" Robotic coughs drowned out the silence. "YOU DIDN'T STEP ON GREEN TILES… OH WELL!"

Mettaton attacked Ruby, forcing her into combat.

"Oh I can't wait to go home so I won't be forced to have this as my primary fighting system…"

"THIS IS IT DARLING, SAY GOODBYE!"

 _Ring_

"IS THAT YOUR PHONE? BETTER ANSWER IT!"

"H-hi Ruby!" Alphys practically shouted. "This seems bad, but don't worry! There's one last thing I installed on your phone! See that big yellow button?"

"Um, yeah."

"Press it!"

"Okay…"

Ruby pressed the button and watched her soul turn yellow. It rotated upside down. she pressed the button again, and her soul shot bullets out of it.

"OOOOOH! YOU'VE DEFEATED ME! HOW COULD THIS BE, YOU WERE STRONGER THAN ME ETC." He rolled away.

"L-looks like you beat him. You did a really great job out there."

"Mmhmm"

"uuuummm… can I tell you a secret? Before I met you I didn't like myself very much. For a long time I felt like a total screw up. Like I couldn't do anything without letting everyone down. but guiding you has made me feel a lot better about myself."

"Aw, Alphys…"

"So, thanks for letting me help you. Anyways, we're almost to the core. It's just past the resort. Come on, let's finish this."

 _Click_

"I'm almost home…"

 _"_ _Does this fill you with determination?"_

"You're damn right it does."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten: Hotland part II

Ruby marched up the stairs, waving to the guards she fought before. Finally, she found herself at the front entrance to the MTT resort.

"Ruby!"

"Sans?" Ruby gasped, walking over to the skeleton.

"I need to talk to you, come on."

They walked into the alley and found a back entrance to the resort, taking a seat at a table. Ruby let out a relaxed smile as she sat down.

"So, what's up?"

"Sigh, welp, here we are. Your journey's almost over, huh? You must really wanna go home."

"It's no disrespect Sans, but my family is on the surface, and I can't even begin to imagine how worried they are. Especially my sister Yang. She watched me fall."

"It's fine. I get it. I know the feeling buddo. Though maybe it's better to take what life's given you instead. Down here you've made so many friends, all of which will miss you if you leave. Is what you have to do really worth it?"

"Sans, I understand, but my family-"

"Ah forget it. I'm rooting for ya kiddo. Now, let me tell ya a story. So, I'm a sentry in Snowdin, right? I sit there and watch for humans, it's kind of boring. Fortunately, deep in the forest there's a door. It's perfect for practicing knock knock jokes. One day, I'm knocking them out like usual, I just say "knock knock", pretty standard stuff, when I hear this woman's voice. "Who's there?" So naturally I reply "Dishes." "Dishes who?" "Dishes a very bad knock knock joke." Then she just starts howling with laughter, as if it was the best joke she's heard in a hundred years. So I keep them coming, and she keeps laughing, when suddenly she speaks. "Knock knock?" I say "Who's there?" "Old lady." "Old lady who?" "Oh! I didn't know you could yodel!" Needless to say she's extremely good."

Ruby wasn't really listening all that much. She felt really tired and just wanted to keep going so she could head home.

"We kept telling each other jokes for hours" Sans smiled, continuing his story. "Eventually I had to go, it was late and my brother gets really cranky without a bedtime story. But she told me to come back so I did. Then I did again, and again, it's kind of a thing now. Telling bad jokes through the door I mean. It rules." His smile fell. Ruby realized he was getting to the point, so she started listening. "One day though, I noticed she wasn't laughing very much. I asked her what was up, and then she told me something strange. "If a human ever comes through this door, could you please, please promise me something? Watch over them, and protect them, will you not?" Now, I hate making promises, and I don't even know her name, but, there's just something about people who sincerely love bad jokes that you just can't say no to. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"To be honest… no?"

"If she hadn't said anything, and I never agreed to that promise…" His eyes went completely blank as he stared Ruby down. **"** **Y O U ' ."**

 _"_ _Red flag! Major red flag!"_

"Ah…" Ruby screamed, falling out of her chair. She started backing up, and Sans' eyes lit up again.

"Huh? Hey lighten up Ruby, I'm kidding." Sans chuckled nervously. Ruby cautiously got back in her seat. She was definitely awake now. "Besides, haven't I done a great job protecting you? You haven't even died once. So stop worrying. "Heh, that's all I gotta say. Take care of yourself will ya? Because someone really cares about you. I'm going to Grillby's, see ya later."

As soon as Sans left, Ruby jumped out of her seat and ran.

A save point was in front of her, so she gladly pressed it.

 _"_ _The relaxing atmosphere of this hotel fills you with determination."_

Ruby clenched her fists and walked through the Core entrance, prepared to head over to Asgore's castle. Two shadowy figures entered the building just ahead.

 _Ring_

"W-what?" Alphys gasped. "No one else is supposed to be here. Oh well, we can't worry about that now!"

Ruby took a deep breath and walked forwards.

"Home. I just need to walk through here, and I'm home…"

"Ready?" Alphys asked. "Just take the elevator up to the top of the core, then you're in the clear."

Ruby eyed the elevator suspiciously. There didn't seem to be any power in the elevator. She looked to the left door, then walked in there.

"H-hey why didn't you try the elevator first?"

 _Click_

Ruby hung up and put her phone in her pocket. She pulled out her scroll. It was cracked, and had zero signals.

"Guess I'm still out of range…" She sighed, putting the scroll back in her pocket. "Oh well, I'll be home soon anyways.

 _"_ _Watch out!"_

The shadow monsters jumped out at her. Ruby bit her lip and prepared herself for a fight.

"Madjick huh? What can I do to befriend you?"

Ruby mystified the monster by pretending to pull her thumb off. But soon realized it wouldn't do much about the monster's orbs. She pulled out Crescent Rose and sniped them, allowing herself to spare the monster.

"I'm sorry about your orbs."

"It's fine, they grow back!"

The other monster attacked. It was a large monster named Knight Knight. Ruby simply sang her a lullaby until she fell asleep.

 _Ring_

"That was close… why are there so many monsters here? It's no problem, right? You can handle them!"

"I appreciate the confidence, but I haven't slept in days, stamina is limited."

"Then I know a fast way to repair the elevator, you just have to trust me."

"Against my better judgement, I'm listening.

"Okay, when you get to that intersection up ahead, keep going forwards. There will be a bunch of lasers. No worries, I'll shut off the power, then, just in case, just use your semblance and run."

"Got it."

Ruby kept walking straight until her path was blocked by lasers.

"Ready?"

"Go for it." The lights went out, and Ruby ran forwards. She couldn't quite make the distance before the power turned on, and she got a pretty bad burn across her torso as she ran through a laser."Aagh!"

"O-oh my god, are you okay? The power turned itself on, I couldn't do anything!"

"It's fine Alphys…" Ruby snapped, biting her lip to keep herself composed. She got up, and followed the path.

 _"_ _The air is filled with the smell of Ozone. You're filled with determination."_

 _Ring_

"Okay, you need to go west. There's a shooting puzzle that will fix the elevator."

"Got it. by the way, don't think I glossed over the fact that you wanted me to use this elevator."

"Heheh… right."

Ruby walked into the puzzle room and shot down the opposing ship. A loud buzzing noise filled the air.

"I take it the elevator's back on?"

"Y-yeah. You should head back to the elevator now."

 _Click_

Ruby made her way back, but quickly made her way into the resort for two starfaits, just in case. She walked into the elevator, feeling nervous.

 _"_ _I'll admit, even I have the jitters. It's been a hundred years since I last saw my dad."_

"You must miss him."

 _"_ _I really do…"_

 _Ding_

"I guess this is it."

 _"_ _Behind this door must be the elevator to the king's castle. You're filled with determination."_

"Okay, let's go."

Ruby walked in the door, shaking a little. Who she saw next was not one she expected, but probably should have.

It was Mettaton.

"OH, HELLO THERE DARLING! YOU'RE HERE EARLIER THAN EXPECTED." The robot sighed, filing his nails.

His gloved, robotic nails.

"Um… hi Mettaton. I have a feeling I don't need to ask why you're here."

"IT'S TIME TO HAVE OUR LITTLE SHOW DOWN. IT'S FINALLY TIME TO STOP THE _MALFUNCTIONING ROBOT_. NOT! "MALFUNCTIONING"? GET REAL. THIS WAS ALL JUST A BIG SHOW. AN ACT. SOMETHING I AM VERY GLAD YOU CAUGHT ONTO. YOU AREN'T AS STUPID OR NAIIVE AS ALPHYS PREDICTED. SHE WANTED TO DO ALL THE WORK FOR YOU, MAKE HERSELF THE HEROINE OF YOUR ADVENTURE. BUT AS A HUNTRESS, YOU DIDN'T NEED HELP. SHE GREW DESPERATE TOMAKE HERSELF LOOK MUCH BETTER THAN SHE IS, BUT HAS FAILED SO FAR. EVEN AS WE SPEAK, SHE'S ON HER WAY HERE. HER PLAN IS TO SHUT ME OFF, SAVING YOU FROM A DANGER THAT DOESN'T EVEN EXIST. BUT I'M STOPPING THIS PREDICTABLE CHARADE NOW. IT GOT RATHER BORING AFTR THE COOKING SHOW. YOU DIDN'T EVEN PLAY ALONG FOR THE BOMBS OR COLOURED TILES. BESIDES, I HAVE NO DESIRE TO HARM HUMANS. FAR FROM IT ACTUALLY. MY ONLY DESIRE IS TO ENTERTAIN. AFTER ALL, AN AUDIENCE DESERVES A GOOD SHOW, RIGHT? AND WHAT'S A GOOD SHOW WITHOUT A PLOT TWIST?!"

 _SLAM_

"H-hey! What's going on? The door closed!"

 _"_ _Welp, Alphys just arrived."_

"SEE? PREDICTABLE TO A FAULT. SORRY FOLKS! THE REGULARILY SCHEDULED PROGRAM HAS BEEN CANCELLED. BUT WE'VE GOT A FINALE THAT WILL DRIVE YOU WILD!" The floor started raising, launching the combatants upwards. "REAL DRAMA! REAL ACTION! REAL BLOODSHED! ON OUR NEW SHOW ATTACK OF THE KILLER ROBOT!"

"Okay… I am so confused."

"WHAT'S TO BE CONFUSED ABOUT? I RE-ARRANGED THE CORE, I HIRED THE SPIDERS TO KILL YOU. THAT WAS A SHORT-SIDED PLAN THOUGH. YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT WOULD BE A HUNDRED TIMES BETTER? KILLING YOU MYSELF."

"I thought you didn't want to hurt humans!"

"YOU SEE, THIS IS WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU RUBY! YOUR ATTENTION TO EVERY SMALL DETAIL IS ADMIRABLE. EVEN IF IT IS JUST COMMON SENSE."

"Maybe this might help." Ruby decided, pulling out her phone. She pressed the button, hitting Mettaton with the yellow bullets.

"THAT WORTHLESS PEA SHOOTER WON'T WORK ON ME. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT ACTING IS?" Mettaton sighed. "LISTEN DARLING, I'VE SEEN YOU FIGHT DOWN HERE. YOU'RE WEAK. IF YOU KEEP GOING THIS WAY, ASGORE WILL TAKE YOUR SOUL. AND WITH YOUR SOUL, ASGORE WILL DESTROY HUMANITY. THOUGH WITH RUMOURS GOING AROUND ABOUT THE CREATURES OF DARKNESS UP THERE, I DON'T SEE WHY HE SHOULD PUT IN THE EFFORT, WHEN HUMANITY IS BEING DESTROYED ANYWAYS. LET ME TELL YOU A SECRET, NONE OF THE SOULS WE COLLECTED ARE FAUNUS. THE FAUNUS ARE OUR ALLIES. THE FAUNUS NEVER KILLED US AND TRAPPED US UNDERGROUND FOR NO REASON. THAT BURDEN IS THAT OF THE HUMANS, AND THE HUMANS ALONE. BUT, IF I TAKE YOUR SOUL, I CAN STOP THE KING'S LUDICROUS PLAN! I CAN SAVE HUMANITY FROM DESTRUCTION. BUT WITH YOUR SOUL I CAN CROSS THE BARRIER AND BECOME THE STAR I HAVE ALWAYS DREAMED OF. HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS, NO, _MILLIONS_ OF HUMANS WILL WATCH ME EVERY DAY! GLITZ, GLAMOUR, I'LL FINALLY HAVE IT ALL! SO WHAT IF A FEW PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE?"

"I'm very confused right now…"

 _"_ _That makes two of us…"_

"YOU TWO DON'T UNDERSTAND, AND YOU PROBABLY NEVER WILL. OH WELL. IT'S NO SKIN OFF MY NON-EXISTENT TEETH."

 _Ring_

"U-uh… I can't see what's going on!" Alphys panicked. "But, what you need to do is turn Mettaton around."

"And I'm supposed to trust you on this? What about literally everything else?"

"I know! I don't expect you to ever trust me again, but you need to trust me on this. There's a switch on Mettaton's back, that if you flick it, it will make him vulnerable, then you can actually fight him. His weak point will be his heart shaped core. Ruby, you need to trust me here."

"Fine, just this once. Hey Mettaton! There's a mirror behind you!"

"REALLY? WHERE? I NEED TO LOOK MY BEST TO PRESENT TO THE HUMANS!"

 _Beep_

"DID YOU… JUST FLICK… MY SWITCH?" Mettaton started spazzing out as the room filled with smoke. Ruby thought he was going to explode, so she started backing away as far as the pillar platform would allow without her risking taking a fall to her death.

"Oh no…"

"OH YES!"

 _"_ _Oh god what now?"_

"Oh my… if you flipped my switch, that could only mean one thing." Mettaton called out through the smoke. Ruby could faintly make out the figure of a humanoid creature, definitely not Mettaton. "You're desperate for the premiere of my new body." Correction, definitely Mettaton. "How rude. Luckily for you, I've been aching to show this off for a while now. So as thanks I will give you a handsome reward. Ruby, I will make your last living moments absolutely beautiful!" The smoke cleared, revealing a robot that looks far more human. He's wearing a ton of pink and black, and he stinks of hairspray.

"Mettaton?"

"Are surprised darling? You shouldn't be. Someone this sexy can't be a work of fiction, nor can I be copied. Get the cameras rolling! It's show time!"

Back at Grillby's, Sans was having a conversation with one of the fellow patrons.

"So I said 'patella'? I barely know her!"

"Hey! Mettaton's show's on!" Dogamy announced.

"(Is that the weird puppy from before?)" Dogaressa asked.

Sans never really paid attention to Mettaton TV, it never interested him, but a certain voice caught his attention.

"Okay I'll bite. What the heck is going on?"

"RUBY?" He gasped, snapping his head to the television in the corner.

 _Ding_

 _Papyrus: SANS! RUBY IS ON TV!_

 _Sans: I know, I'm watching it now._

"GO HUMAN!" Lesser dog barked, wagging her tail in excitement.

"Here's the deal hot shot!" Mettaton explained, we're going to entertain these monsters, sound simple?"

"I guess so?" Ruby responded, still very confused. The spot lights on her were very warm. Mettaton started dancing, aiming his legs at her. He was much taller than her now, and his boots were very sharp. He was trying to step on her. Ruby started dancing to avoid the attack, zig zagging around him as he stepped down. She glanced over to the ratings board. It was going up. "Ha! You aren't going to hit me Mettaton!"

"You say that now Darling." Mettaton smirked, pressing a button. Bombs and mini Mettatons rained down. Ruby shot at them with her pea shooter, and dodged what she missed. The ratings were sitting at a gradual 4000, and were still going up. Ruby smirked and posed dramatically to taunt him. "Smile for the camera darling!"

Ruby had to avoid more mini Mettatons, but this time film reels flew at her, and she had to shoot a certain spot on them to avoid the impact.

"You're gonna need to try a bit harder than that."

"Oh? But it's time for a pop quiz. I hope you brought a pencil."Ruby checked her pocket, and strangely enough there was an MTT pencil in it.

"Where did this come from?"

A mini Mettaton crawled out and waved at her.

"This one's an essay question! What do you love most about Mettaton?"

 _"_ _Considering how focused he is on his legs, I think it's a safe guess that that's the answer."_

Ruby nodded and wrote "Legs so hot"

"Correct! You two make a great team!"

The ratings reached 6568 but started dropping.

 _"_ _We need to keep those ratings up! It may be our only hope!"_

"Your essay really showed everyone your heart. Why don't I show you mine?"

The core in Mettaton's abdomen floated out, and Ruby shot at it with her pea shooter, avoiding lightning bolts as they shot out. She got hit by one, and fell over in pain.

"Agh!"

 _"_ _Are you alright?"_

"Just 3hp off. I'm fine."

 _"_ _Hp?"_

"Yeah. With how my aura works down here, it's pretty much a health bar. Like in video games."

 _"_ _You're talking about video games with someone who died about 60 years before video games were invented. I have no idea what you're talking about."_

"Are you two done? Because I'd like to continue the fight now."Mettaton Interrupted. Ruby responded by shooting his heart core again. His arms fell off.

"Oh my Oum! I'm sorry! You aren't hurt are you?"

"I'm a machine. I don't feel pain. Besides, who needs arms with legs like these!" He scoffed. "How are you on the dance floor?"

A disco ball appeared over head. Ruby stayed in place when the lights were blue, and shot the ball when they were white. It turned them blue.

"Come on Ruby!" Sans pleaded. "You can do it!"

"Lights! Cameras! Bombs!"

Ruby was shut inside a small box, just barely wide enough to move side to side. A box and a bomb fell at a time, and she shot the bomb, taking shelter underneath the box. It was easy enough, but the space was undesirable.

 _"_ _Talk about claustrophobic…"_

"It could have been worse."

Ruby was caught off guard and kicked in the head. Shaking off the dizzying pain, she got back up, dancing around Mettaton's legs. She could feel blood running down her face.

 _"_ _Are you okay? That was a bad hit."_

"Chara, if I go on licking my wounds for every attack, I'll get absolutely nowhere in these fights."

 _"_ _Eating a starfait wouldn't hurt."_

Ruby had to admit, she was right. She pulled out the starfait and poured into her mouth, forcing herself to swallow the nasty dessert.

"Oh! Are you promoting my brand? I'm flattered!" Ruby prepared for an attack that never came. "Time for our union-regulated break!"

 _"_ _I forgot we were on tv."_

"We've grown so distant darling! How about another heart-to-heart?"

Ruby smiled as the core came out of his abdomen, ready to shoot at it. she glanced over at the viewer counter, which was at around 7000.

"Show me your love Mettaton." She teased, pointing the pea shooter at his core. She shot at it, but missed too much. A block bashed her in the back of the head and she stumbled."Ow…"

"How about some more explosive action?" Mettaton smiled, putting Ruby back in that box. She shot the bombs, narrowly avoiding the last explosion. Miraculously, even her cape was unscathed.

"These are too close of calls for my taste."

"Enough of this!" Mettaton huffed. His eyes were flickering. He was running low on power. "Do you really want humanity to perish? Or do you just believe in yourself that much? How inspiring. Well darling, it's either me or you, but I think we already both know who's going to win. Witness the true power of humanity's star."

 _"_ _He's assuming an awful lot, isn't he?"_

"Yep."

"You two are so close minded, always thinking that it will be you who wins. One of these days you won't get that lucky."

"You don't know anything about me!" Ruby snapped. "On the surface, I've watched friends die, while being damn close to it myself. Don't tell me that I think I'll always win, I already know otherwise."

"Wow…" Mettaton trailed off, he wasn't expecting that. He coughed and released his core, and Ruby shot at it, refusing to miss. Before she knew it, Mettaton's legs were blown off. "Then, are you the star? Can you really protect humanity?"

"It _is_ my job." Ruby smiled. Blades in the shape of Mettaton's legs shot out of the floor, and Ruby had to dodge as quickly as possible. A blade scratched along her arm, making her fall to her knees in pain. With a trembling hand she ate the other starfait, and her arm mostly healed. With wobbly legs, she stood up, looking completely exhausted. She shot her way through the disco ball, then shot at his still floating core. Finally the ratings hit 10000

"Ooh! Look at those ratings!" Mettaton cheered giddily. "If I had hands I'd be clapping. This is the most viewers I ever had!"

"Good for you! Congratulations." Ruby smiled, applauding for him.

"We've reached the viewer call-in milestone! One lucky viewer will have the chance to talk to me before I leave forever."

 _"_ _Is it over?"_

"I think so."

 _Ring_

"Hello! You're on tv!"

 _"_ _Oh… um hi Mettaton…"_ a familiar, depressed voice spoke over the phone. _"_ _I really liked watching your show. My life is pretty boring, but seeing you on the screen brought excitement to my life… vicariously. I can't tell, but this is your last show? I'll miss you Mettaton. Oh, I didn't mean to talk so long. Ohh….."_

"No, wait! Wait, Bl- oh. They hung up already. I'll take another caller."

Soon enough the entire room was full of the sounds of people calling in. all of them demanded the same thing: _Don't leave Mettaton, we'll miss you!_ Ruby couldn't help but feel bad for these monsters.

"Maybe you should stay. These monsters need you Mettaton."

"You're right. The surface is full of celebrities and movie stars, but the Underground only has me. This dark prison would lose its only spark, so I have to delay my big debut. Besides, you've proven that you're very strong. Look at you, running on three sleepless days and you still won. You might be strong enough to beat Asgore. I'm sure you'll be able to protect humanity. You're a very brave huntress Ruby. You'll go far. Ha ha… it's all for the best anyways. My form, this image that I took on, its energy consumption is very… ＩＮＥＦＦＩＣＩＥＮＴ．Soon I will run out of power. But, I'll be alright. Just be careful Ruby, you're monster kind's only hope. Knock 'em dead darling. And everyone, thank you. You've been a great audience."

Mettaton's eyes went black as he ran out of power. Ruby cringed, memories of Penny's lifeless body on the ground echoing through her mind.

Grillby's was a mad house. Every one of the patrons was cheering Ruby on for her victory. Sans was cheering the most, telling Grillby that everyone was to get a free drink on him…

Grillby said no.

"Finally! I got the door open!" Alphys cheered, running inside. Ruby only stood there, letting the platform lower back to the ground. "So what happened? Oh my god! Mettaton!"She ran to the broken robot on the floor, relieved to see him in working condition. "Phew, it's just his batteries… If you killed Mettaton I would have… I would have… I-I mean, it's no big deal. He's just a robot. If you messed it up, I could have j-just built another. Why don't you go on ahead? I need a minute."

Ruby nodded and left the room, collapsing to the floor soon afterwards.

 _"_ _RUBY!"_

"I'm okay. I just need a minute."

Panting from exhaustion, Ruby reached into her pocket for her mini first-aid kit. She wrapped her arm up in bandages, then tried to get back up. Her legs didn't want to work.

 _"_ _You look awful."_

"Thank you for your kind words."

"Okay, I'm sorry. I just needed to- oh my goodness!" Alphys panicked, running over. "Are you hurt? What's wrong?"

"I'm freaking exhausted." Ruby muttered. "My legs gave out."

"W-well, then rest for a second. I need to talk to you."

"You talk, I'll force myself to stay awake."

O-okay. I don't even know where to begin with this… um… I've been lying to you. About more than just Mettaton. I lied to you about how to get home. You can't get through alone. it takes at least the power of a human soul and monster soul. Or a human and Faunus, but there are no Faunus to steal the soul of down here. What I'm saying is, in order to go home, you have to kill Asgore. I'm so sorry."

"Oh…" Ruby muttered, looking down. She didn't want to kill anyone.

"I'm so sorry. I can't go further with you. Good luck Ruby."

Ruby watched as the dinosaur left the room, heading back to where she came from. She sighed.

"Chara?"

 _"_ _Go ahead."_

"What?"

 _"_ _Kill Asgore."_ Chara stated calmly. _"_ _If it's your only way home, I don't mind."_

"Okay, if you say so."

She walked into the elevator without saying another word.


End file.
